The Phantom Moon

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I've been doing a lot of late night embroidery lately which means i am often sewing into the wee hours of the night with only my laptop keeping me company.  To keep from falling asleep, I watch either DVR'd episodes of The Martha Stewart Show or DVD and (even better) Instant Play movies from Netflix (note to Netflix: please add more of your movies as Instant Play, please!).  I thought I'd share some of the picks that I've been watching lately.  Here they are in no particular order:

Water for Elephants : I must confess, I wanted to see this movie mainly for 2 reasons.  The first was Robert Pattinson.  He's a cutie and thanks to my dear sister, I'm on Team Edward.  

The second reason was to watch another great performance by Christoph Waltz.  He's a fantastic actor and I can't wait to see Carnage, when that's ready on Netflix as well.  I also have a thing for older men but thats another post in itself.  Pattinson and Waltz aside, this was a pretty good movie that I'd probably watch again even though some scenes made me cringe (aka as August with Rosie ... ouch!).

Horrible Bosses : I am a fan of physical and potty humor and this movie certainly fit the bill.  Dare I say it was even better than The Hangover?  

It had more than a few scenes were I was cracking up and I know I'll bother my hubby more than once by quoting lines in the film that will mean nothing to him since he hasn't seen the movie yet (trust me, that won't stop me).  If you'd ever had a crappy boss, you can totally relate and need to watch this movie.

Super 8 :  This was a great movie for many reasons and reminded me of the good movies I used to watch as a kid like The Monster Squad, The Goonies and The Last Starfighter.  

I won't spoil it if you haven't seen it but if you were a fan of these movies back in the day, you should definitely rent Super 8.  And the ending credits? Genius!  On a side note: did you know that Elle Fanning, who played Alice, is Dakota Fanning's sister?

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 : It's pretty obvious to anyone who's seen my work that I'm a Harry Potter fan, so this was a must for me to see.  

I love the books and the films and this was definitely one of the darker films so far.  While I loved it, I also felt a bit wanting for scenes that I'd read in the book but were left out of the movie.  Or for scenes that were changed in the movie vs how they were written in the book, but this is always the case for books made into movies.  

In the end I did love it and will watch it again in the future, but the next time I will make sure I make a batch of butterbeer cupcakes to get me through some of the sad scenes.

From Prada to Nada : I'm a big Jane Austen fan (thanks again to my dear sister!) so I had to watch a modern remake of Jane's Sense and Sensibility.  It's both a modern twist on her tale plus it's been given a Latin spin which peaked my interest.  

While it was entertaining, I did have a few beefs with the film but in the end I still enjoyed watching it and plan on watching it again with that same sister who always pops up in my blog, lol.

Wild Target : What can I say, I love old men and one of my biggest crushes - Bill Nighy - is one of the main stars in this film.  It also stars another Harry Potter alum, Rupert Grint (Bill played Minister Rufus Scrimgeour alongside Rupert in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1).  

Bill, Rupert and Emily Blunt (she is so darn pretty, why would Michael Buble break up with her?) are hilarious in this movie and it's truly worth watching if you like dark comedies.

I've also seen some pretty lousy movies that not only made me feel like I wasted hours of my life watching it, but also gave me visions I'd rather forget.  I'm sharing these as well to warn you away from them:

* Kidnapped
* Battle: Los Angeles
* Country Strong
* Hunger 

Ah well, you win some and lose when you pick movies, right?  Have you seen any great movies lately that you'd like to share?  And yes, please share the losers too to save us all from wasted time, lol.

Christmas Village

Last week I met my sister for lunch and shopping at Christmas Village.  This is the 3rd year that Philadelphia has hosted this event and the second my sister and I have attended.  If you recall, last year I purchased a cute little matryoshka doll for BB.  The high was 38 degrees that day so let's just say we didn't stay as long browsing this time as we did last year.  We still had a blast though.

I'm hoping they have the carousel next year as well so BB can hop on for a ride.  She's a little spooked out by stuff like this right now so I have a year to work her up to it, lol.

As you can see it was a bustling day in the city and hopefully most of the vendors enjoyed a successful day.

It's a little hard to read in the above shot but this is the welcoming arch that reads "Christmas Village".  I took this shot especially since there was some controversy surrounding the word "Christmas" and it was originally removed from the sign per the Mayor's request and to be replaced by the word "Holiday".  Silly, I know.  It's a Christmas Village after all!  Luckily he came to his senses (after having his office inundated with calls!) and had the word "Christmas" placed back up.

Isn't my sister so pretty?  She's 7 months pregnant right now, can you believe it?  I had her pose in front of this shot since she's the resident tutu maker in our family and has made more then she can count. 

Here's the beauty again.  We'd originally intended to eat brats together like we had last year but instead tried another delight from Brauhaus Schmitz ... potato pancakes with sour cream and applesauce.  Neither of us had tried this before and we were pleasantly surprised at how delicious they were!  While the sour cream was tasty with the pancake, we both agreed that applesauce accompanying it was our favorite.

Overall we had a delightful time and I'm so happy to spend time like this with my sister.  I smell a tradition in the making!

Christmas Village will be open until Christmas Eve so definitely stop by if you're in Philadelphia.  Merry Christmas!

Philadelphia Zoo Trip

Recently my hubby, BB and I were lucky enough to be the recipients of tickets to the Philadelphia Zoo.  At the last minute we were able to also get an additional 2 tickets which was just fantastic since my Sister and Brother-In-Law were in town for a prior engagement that had been canceled.  Perfect, no?

This was BB's first official trip to the Philadelphia Zoo and I was a little worried since she doesn't like change or new things.  At all.  Period.  So we crossed our fingers and hoped for the best.  And you know what?  We had an absolutely fantastic time and my dear little girl did so well!  Even though the weather was hot, the sky was blessedly cloudy and there was such a lovely breeze in the air that kept you cool and refreshed.

The first exhibit we visited was the Rare Animal Conservation Center.  It was a little dark but the space was open enough that the claustrophobic ones in our group had no problem walking through and enjoying the animals.

 

 

 

Some have said my Patronous would be a Sloth but I disagree.  I personally think it would be a Rhino.

The Zoo also has a nifty little activity called PZ Gem Panning Co. where you buy a bag of sand and sift it in the water contraption that they have set up.  It's a kind of early settlers deal and makes you feel like you're back in the old days, looking for some gold.  Everyone got in on the action and BB was so happy to take her "treasure" home with her.  Thinking back, I'm surprised none of us in the group didn't let out a "Yee-haw!" or two while we were there.

After we cleaned up and collected our loot, we headed to what I think was one of BB's favorite exhibit of the Zoo ... the Reptile and Amphibian House!  There we saw plenty of creepy crawly slithering creatures and my darling girl was in heaven.  Did I ever tell you we suspect she speaks Parseltongue?  We took bets on whether or not she'd mysteriously set loose an anaconda or two.

Take a look at her expression in the mirror - priceless no?  Despite the huge eyes she totally enjoyed herself and told her daddy more than once that the snakes were "so so cute".

 

Here are my two sweethearts.  Aren't they cute together?  My darling dear flip flopped between her Daddy and Tio Frank most of the day and each was more then happy to oblige her wishes, sticking her on their shoulders or lifting her high into the air so she could see the exhibits and creatures better.  And let me tell you, my back is very happy we had them both there!

We also saw Gloria and Moto Moto.  One snorted loudly while we were watching them and BB shouted, "they farted!".  We are such a classy crowd to be around, lol.

And don't forget the Slowsky's!

The Philadelphia Zoo also has some wonderful Lego exhibits scattered around featuring different animals as well as collectible trading cards.  We picked up as many as we could and BB and hubby loved looking at them.  I could practically see my hubby scheming up ways to replicate these Lego masterpieces at home.

Then we were off to see the monkey's and gorilla's and they were a sight to behold!  They really are so enormous in real life!

My Mom fell in love with this lovely specimen.  Doesn't he look like he could just use a cuddle or two?  He sat during most of our visit by the window and looked longingly outside.  Or maybe he was just thinking he was so happy to be in the air conditioning and not out in the heat?

After a little bit he casually strolled on over to where we were standing and plopped down in front of us.  He just stayed there cute as can be while we snapped photos galore.  I think if my Mom could have she would have hopped right in there with him, settled down with a cup of coffee and let him help her with her crocheting or jewelry making.

 

There was also a place called the Children's Zoo that featured bunnies and the like which completely captivated BB.  They were too cute and she asked if we could hop in there with them.   

We finally made our way to the Giraffe exhibit that BB had been asking us about all day.  You see, my darling girl loves Madagascar and wanted to see Melman, one of her favorites from the movie.  We didn't tell her the lovely adult giraffe was actually named Stella and had just given birth a few weeks back.

Aren't they just adorable together?  The wonderful young man who worked at the Zoo told us that this little bundle of joy was born 5'4" tall and weighed in at 120lbs ... that's bigger then my older sister!  They still haven't picked a name for her and are holding a competition of sorts on their site, letting the public pick her name.  Cool isn't it?

Marty also made an appearance and other then missing Alex (the Big Cat area was too crowded and we were ready for lunch at that point), our Madagascar experience was complete.

We had such a wonderful time and will definitely be back for more fun in the future now that we know it's passed the BB test.  Thanks Philadelphia Zoo for allowing us to enjoy the animals for a day!  Your animals and staff were out of this world!  We can't wait to head back!