Movie Review: Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides

Today we decided to head down to the movie theater to check out "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides". Since it was playing in 3D at the IMAX theater, we thought we'd check it out... my first 3D movie since "Captain EO" at Disneyland.

Director: Rob Marshall

Main Actors: Johnny Depp, Penelope Cruz, Geoffrey Rush, and Ian McShane

Synopsis: (from IMDb) Captain Jack Sparrow (Depp) crosses paths with a woman from his past (Cruz), and he's not sure if it's love -- or if she's a ruthless con artist who's using him to find the fabled Fountain of Youth. When she forces him aboard the Queen Anne's Revenge, the ship of the formidable pirate Blackbeard (McShane), Jack finds himself on an unexpected adventure in which he doesn't know who to fear more: Blackbeard or the woman from his past.


Rating: I loved this movie. As always, Johnny Depp does a fantastic job as Jack Sparrow... full of funny one liners and hilarious moves. I actually really liked Penelope Cruz in this movie as well - she and Johnny Depp shared some hilarious scenes. As always, Geoffrey Rush is a fantastic Barbosa and Ian McShane was wonderful as Blackbeard. I loved the introduction of the mermaids... they were definitely not what I expected!

Now, let's talk a little bit about this IMAX 3D thing. To give you a little bit behind the science, per Wikipedia, the IMAX 3D process uses two camera lenses to film, separated at the distance of the human eye. The two films are then projected at the same time, so you see 3D on the screen instead of 2D. Apparently, my eyes don't like this one bit - after all, they were lazered a couple years ago to make sure they each saw perfect 20/15 vision. Basically all that 3D did was make me feel nauseous for the entire 2 hours and 21 minutes of the movie. To be honest, I found it more distracting anyways - it's not quite 3D like in the real world... so I found myself thinking more about the 3D than being sucked into the movie. I think I would have enjoyed it a little more had I gone to see the regular IMAX or even the old fashioned "regular" movie.

That said, I definitely recommend this movie - I'm amazed that they were able to get a fourth movie out without it getting old... this one still felt fresh (especially because they mixed in new characters) and was even left open at the end for another!

Humongous Moth

This morning Mike told me that last night after I went to bed this bat kept hitting the window. He said it was annoying and must have had some sort of issue with it's sonar.

Then, about 11am today I got a text from him saying he found a moth stuck to the sliding glass door that was humongous. This was followed by a text picture of the biggest moth I've ever seen.

I didn't think much more about it until I got home this afternoon and went out on the deck to water some plants. It scared the crap out of me! Seriously, I was afraid to turn my back on this thing!

Moth 1

Moth 2

Moth 3

After taking these up close shots, I decided that I needed something to show some scale. So I made Mike hold up a quarter, because honestly this thing scares me a little:

Moth With A Quarter

Every day I love moving out to the country just a little bit more...

It's The End of The World... Or Not

Harold Camping, a Christian broadcaster, predicted the world would end on Saturday. Well, he predicted that Jesus would return, rapture 2-3% of the world's population to Heaven and then over the next five months the world would slowly destruct, with a fiery grand finale on October 21. Obviously, Camping was very, very wrong. What's even more hilarious is that he's quoted at saying he's "flabbergasted" that the day passed without incident. Some of his followers even went so far as to sell all of their belongings, quit their jobs and close out their bank accounts. I bet this morning was an awkward one at work...

Today Camping came out and said he made a mistake, that the would would really end on October 21st. I have a couple problems with this. First, I think the guy is a complete crock, with nothing to back his claims. Secondly,  my wedding is on October 22nd. I'm gonna be SO mad if I do all this planning and I don't even get to enjoy it!

I won't give the guy any kind of credit by linking my blog to his website, but needless to say, there's a website out there that attempts to detail what these people believe. I say attempt because it's a very poorly put together website that is difficult to navigate and make sense of.

I do have to say that I saw one of the best billboards ever posted on Facebook:

Best. Billboard. Ever.

Click here to read the CNN article.

Wedding 1 of 7!

Yesterday we attended the first of seven weddings in the next six months. Yup, you read that right... lots of people we know are getting hitched this year! Mike's good friend from work, Dave married a wonderful woman named Courtney. The wedding was a total blast - after weeks of iffy weather, it cleared up and was beautiful for their afternoon outdoor ceremony.

Dave & Courtney During The Ceremony

Mr. & Mrs. Wood!

Courtney's dress was beautiful! It was some sort of satin fabric underneath with a beautiful lace overlay. They had very similar colors to what Mike and I will have - the fall colors. It was cool to see our colors in action!

We had an absolute blast - it was a great wedding! Best wishes to Dave and Courtney as they start their life together!

Mike and I Before The Ceremony

In other news, five months from today is MY wedding day! I can't believe how quickly it's creeping up now! It's time to get back to the planning!

My First Bike Ride

Ok, not exactly my first bike ride. But today was my first bike ride on a road bike. Oh, and it was my first time on a category 1 climb. For those of you who don't follow cycling, they rate climbs on a scale of 1 to 4, with one being the hardest climb (technically, there is also an "HC" which means it's out of category because it's so hard). Basically, this was a serious mountain. We covered roughly three and a half miles of road with 1,800 feet of climbing in one hour and twenty minutes. I thought that wasn't that bad until the pros did it in about 20 minutes. Yikes! Here's the first picture of me at the top... don't I look invigorated and happy to be alive?

I Made It To The Top!

Mike also made it to the top (duh!). This is us after I've had some time to cool down and eat a PB&J!

We Did It!

The winner of this stage was Chris Horner. The poor guy rides for Team Radioshack, which also happens to have Levi Leipheimer. So, of course, everyone was cheering for Leipheimer, thinking he was Chris Horner. It wasn't until he was right up on us that we realized it was Chris! He finished a good minute ahead of anyone else... absolutely amazing!

Chris Horner Making The Final Climb

This one is of Jens Voigt - one of cycling's most loved people. Poor guy took a very nasty fall yesterday (see that big bandage on his knee?) but apparently didn't think to grab a new pair of shorts (check out his left upper hip!). I'm pretty sure my face looked like this all the way up the hill.

Jens Made It Too!

I did manage to snap a good shot of George Hincapie on his way back down the mountain to the team bus. This was probably the coolest part of the race - as we all headed down, the pros joined us! Apparently this is pretty rare (seriously, it'd be like professional football players heading out to the parking lot to stretch after the game).

George Hincapie On His Way Back To The Bus

Finally, the peloton came by - a good 30 minutes behind Chris Horner!

The Peloton

As always, there are the fun cycling fans:

Moose!

Finally, I left today with the mark of the cyclist - grease on my calf:

Grease Is The Word

We just watched the playback on Versus and Mike was on TV!!! Ok, my leg was too, but I'm going to let him have the glory. They caught us cheering for the 2nd group in. Woo hoo! What a great day - I'm tired and sore and going to chill out a little now! I definitely think I'll be getting a road bike!

I have more pictures - I'll post them to Facebook tomorrow!

Wedding Music

Well, now that Kati and Nate's wedding is fast approaching, I have to start thinking very seriously about planning my own. Once we hit their wedding (in two weeks!) I will have just under five months until my own.

The most daunting task for me is the music. I know, you would think that after years of singing at other people's weddings and majoring in music, I'd have this piece down pat. It's actually the opposite! I have so many very strong opinions about what I don't want that it sort of clouds what I do want. We have joked about a few first dance songs, ranging from "The Humpty Dance" to "Freebird". Seriously, would you just die at a wedding if you saw the happy couple stand up and then heard the first strains of "Freebird" (ie. knowing you now had nine minutes and six seconds to watch them sway).

I think I am going to have to start making a list... at least jotting down some songs that might fit into various spots of the ceremony and reception. I really do think this is going to be the hardest part of all of the wedding planning for me!

Or I could just go with my gut and stick with "Freebird"...

Kati's Final Fling Before The Ring!

Yup, the time finally arrived for me to throw my little sister a bachelorette party! We rented a house in Aptos (near Capitola) and me, Kati and twelve of her closest friends headed down for the weekend.

The house was absolutely amazing - our views were spectacular! Here's Kati and Elizabeth on the afternoon we arrived:

Kati And Elizabeth At The Beach House

We had the difficult task of waking up to and falling asleep to this view:

The Master Bedroom View

The two little windows at the bottom rolled open, so we slept with them cracked - I could seriously get used to listening to the waves roll in!

Friday night was our mellow night in. Well, that's what it was supposed to be. It turned out to be dance party in the kitchen night, which was far more fun than watching chick flicks! Of course, even a dance party in the kitchen can mellow out, which is why my friends keep me around:

Life Of The Party

On Saturday night, we headed into Capitola to have dinner and hang out at Margaritaville. Brigitte made some fantastic shirts that said "Kati's Final Fling Before The Ring" on them and our taxi driver actually commented that we looked like a gang.

Kati's Entourage

Kristine did our makeup (she's amazing!) and this is probably one of my favorite pictures from the weekend:

Kati and I

The night was an absolute blast. Dinner started with the bar manager coming over, singing and pounding a shot in front of Kati that she then drank. I'd say that's a pretty good start! We followed up with lots of drinks, lots of dancing and a few "dare cards". These are a fun little game where you draw a card and have to do what the card says. A couple examples of ours:

• Pluck a man's chest hair and then apologize
• Find a man with a hidden piercing
• Kiss a bald man's head

This is really the first time I've gone out since getting engaged and I had my "ah ha" moment. Brigitte and I went over to the bar to order a round of drinks. As we stood there waiting for the bartender, the two guys next to us started up a conversation. A few minutes in, one of the guys looked down, saw my left hand and said "is that an engagement ring?" I told him it was and he very promptly told me to send my single friends over. Ouch. The reality of it is that I'm sort of over the bar scene... I noticed myself wanting to hang out with the girls and just dance - not to be around the rest of the crowd. I guess that's all part of growing up!

In a weird twist of fate, it happened to be my cousin Jared's 21st birthday... AND my other cousin Jacob had proposed to his girlfriend a couple days earlier. Both live in the greater Los Gatos/Santa Cruz area, so they headed down to Capitola for the bachelorette/birthday/engagement shot:

Dom, Me, Kati, Jared, Jacob and Gina!

It was so cool to have four out of five J.A.K.E. club members there (we missed you Emmy!) and it was awesome to celebrate two other momentous times in our cousin's lives!

This morning we woke up, cleaned up and headed on home. I'm sad the weekend is over, but I'm utterly exhausted! I think I might go to bed at 8pm tonight! It feels so nice to be home and to see Mike and Shadow again!

For more pictures, head on over to my Facebook page and check out the Kati's Bachelorette Weekend album!

Seriously?!

I had to post it... I seriously should have gone into marketing:

There Are Not Words

Album Review: Bruno Mars "Doo-Wops & Hooligans"

Let me start by saying what a cool name for an album. I never thought I liked Bruno Mars - in fact, until very recently all that I'd heard of him was an article on TMZ that talked about him getting busted for cocaine. Then I heard this song "Grenade" just about everywhere. And every time I heard it, I kept thinking that I should really look up who sang it because he had a pleasant voice. On about the 100th time, I realized that this was the guy that sang the hook on the hit pop song "Billionaire". You may also recall him from his awesome Grammy's performance - he did the whole old school feel with the fedora and black and white vibe.

As it turns out, "Doo-Wops & Hooligans" is Bruno's debut album - which I never would have guessed since it seemed like I had heard his voice everywhere. I was very happy with my album purchase. The songs are catchy, upbeat and Bruno actually really has a pretty good voice. All in all, it's very entertaining album - great for listening to on a road trip or your drive to work.

His latest single "The Lazy Song" is awesome - it has that sort of Dave-Matthews-Meets-Jack-Johnson feel and is about exactly what the title says - being lazy all day.

Favorite songs: "Grenade", "Just The Way You Are" and "The Lazy Song".

Happy Monther's Day Mom!

Me and My Mama

Yup, I have the best mama in the world. That's us at Kati's bridal shower a few weeks ago. Today I headed back to the Bay Area (yes, in hindsight it would have been a little smarter to stay down there overnight, but instead I got two days worth of singing in the car!) to spend Mother's Day morning with my Mom and Oma. Mom, Dad, Eva, Kati, Nate and I headed over to the facility that Oma is in to enjoy their Mother's Day brunch. It was quite the spread - lots of breakfast foods, dinner foods, and desserts (Nate and I partook of the the Oreo cake!). It's getting hard for me with Oma - she remembers me less and less, which makes me sad. I know it has nothing to do with her love for me and is all about the awful disease (for those of you who don't know, she has Alzheimer's Disease). I'm glad I got the chance to go and spend time with her - no matter how hard she struggles to remember, I still think it's important to be there and spend time together! It was great to hang out with the family a little bit and to see what a wonderful place Oma is at!

Mom, Oma, Kati and I

After brunch I headed back home to go over to the Blankenheim's house for a BBQ. As always, the food was yummy! The priest who is going to marry us, Father George, was there and he's a hoot!

Now it's time for some relaxing on the sofa before I hit the next week running!

Cats!

Today Mike and I took a lovely trip to San Francisco to see the Broadway musical "Cats". It was playing at the Orpheum Theater, which is where I believe I saw it with my parents and sister when I was little. It's a very ornate, beautiful theater inside, however, my only criticism is that the seats are very close to the seats in front of you. If I, at 5'2" feel cramped, I can't imagine how a normal person feels!

The show was spectacular. Kathryn Holtkamp played Grizabella, and if you've only heard one song from "Cats" it's likely "Memory". Kathryn gave a spectacular performance of this song - in fact, it actually gave me goosebumps when she got to the final, very emotional chorus. Click here to listen to a clip of her singing it on a Houston morning show.

The other really cool part of the show was the amazing dancing. There was sort of a clear divide between those who sang and those who danced, with the exception of one woman who managed to sing and do cartwheels! One of our favorites was Jordan Dunlap who played Victoria (the all white cat - if I remember correctly, this was Kati's favorite when we were little!). That girl can dance! It was absolutely amazing to watch some of her solo work and when she was in with the rest of the company, she was the one that stood out!

Of course, any road trip is not complete without a picture, so here you go:

Mike and I After The Show

Spring!

It's official... spring is here! I have some hanging plants on the porch in front of the house, one of which is a fern. Last year these little grey birds made a nest there and this year they decided to build another one right on top! I've been keeping a close eye on the nest (especially when I water!!!) and we finally have babies! There are five of them!

Baby Birds!

Baby Birds A Little Closer

There's a second nest this year in one of my geraniums - right now it has four little eggs in it!

Eggs In The Second Nest

I'm beyond excited - this really is one of my favorite times of the year. Things are blooming, growing and sweet little babies are being born! I must say, it was near suicide to take these pictures - I had four birds buzzing me with the intent to kill!

In other exciting news, I got a massage today. As part of my biofeedback, I've discovered that I carry a crazy amount of stress in my neck and shoulders, which may be giving me my headaches. The nurse recommended that I get massages to help. I know, it's a tough cross to bear. I've only really had one other massage in my life and let me tell you, if I hit the lottery, I'd get one every day. It's amazing how great you feel after!

An Evening in the Yard

Last night Mike and I spent some time in the yard. Let me remind you that I have a very serious addiction to the garden center at Lowe's. And that we had a freakish snow storm that killed off the garden I planted a wee bit early. I digress. I replanted the tomatoes, peppers (a variety of hot and mild ones), cucumbers, and watermelon. Now I'm back to patiently watering until I get some crops! While I was at Lowe's, I found some bougainvillea vines to plant in Shadow's pen. I'm wanting some pretty vines to grow along the fence and I think these might be the ones!

Here's the funny part: Mike had Shadow in the pen while he was digging and planting. Shadow was patiently watching and hanging out. I thought it was cute at the time - little did I know, he was storing away the mechanics of planting (and unplanting) things. That's right, the minute we walked away, he went to town trying to get the plants up. He was victorious with one... I replanted it, but I'm not sure how long it will last. Lesson learned!

"No matter how long it takes, justice will be done."

Almost all of us can think back to September 11, 2001 and remember where we were, what we were doing and who we were with when we heard the terrible news about the World Trade Centers and the Pentagon. As you well know, the mastermind behind these attacks (and founder of al-Qaeda) was Osama bin Laden. For many, this man has been the face of terror. This is true both for the United States and many other countries all over the world that he and his organization attacked.

What we know so far is the bin Laden was hiding out in a million dollar compound in Pakistan. President Barak Obama gave the go ahead on April 29th for a covert operation to storm the compound with the intent of killing bin Laden. Bin Laden and those with him were killed during the firefight.

It's taken three presidents, decades of time and thousands of lives, but former president George W. Bush put it perfectly:

"The fight against terror goes on, but tonight America has sent an unmistakable message: No matter how long it takes, justice will be done." - George W. Bush

What makes me nervous is the group of people who believe this is it - that now that bin Laden is dead, terrorism has been eradicated. I believe that to be an incredibly naive and dangerous belief. There are hundreds, if not thousands of men willing to step up and take bin Laden's place. If anything, we are more at risk today than we have been over the last ten years as al-Qaeda plans some sort of retaliation. My soon-to-be nephew, Shane, shipped out to Afghanistan last Thursday - I hope and pray that he and his fellow soldiers stay safe!

I am very interested to hear more details as they are released by the government. Obama's announcement was last night and this morning CNN reported that bin Laden had already been buried at sea (their rational was that there was no country willing to take possession of the terrorist's body). It all seems a little fast, though the United States says it's dictated by Islamic custom to have the body buried within a day of death.

While last night's announcement is a victory for all Americans, I can't help but think about all of the old wounds that this must have opened for so many people. There are the families of the 2,977 world trade, Pentagon and plane victims; the families of the 5,885 soldiers that have died in Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom. These people can't get their loved ones back and I don't think bin Laden's death provides the relief that many hoped it would. Don't get me wrong, I want to see justice served, but justice served does not bring a lost loved one back.

Click here for a link to the CNN article.

Weekend Wrap Up

Holy cow, it's already Sunday and even holier cow, it's already May! I can't believe how fast this year is flying by!

On Saturday I headed out to work at the American River Parkway Half Marathon. It's an event that C.E.R.T. does every year and it's a really fun one. I like working the races because I get to help people that aren't feeling well, but I also get to cheer people on! This year I was assigned to ride my bike up and down the course. I must admit, since my bike accident back in 2006, I haven't been very keen to get back on. I can probably count on one hand the number of times that I have. This was a great event because I wasn't focused on "Oh $h!t, I'm going to crash" and actually had a lot of fun. Next up, climbing Alpe d'huez. Yeah, that's right, Mike's making me. :)

Mike and I went down to check our game camera (we don't really go alone any more... and now we're getting ready to take the pistol with us!) because we hadn't been in about two weeks. More success with the mountain lions! We ended up with two pictures of them and a couple really good deer pictures. The mountain lions seem to be sticking to passing our camera at night (which is when it uses infrared technology). I wish we could get one good one during the day - that way we would get way better detail and color pictures! Either way, these are some big cats. I think they're two different ones in these pics because one seems much bigger and muscular to me:

Mountain Lion on 4/23/11

Mountain Lion on 4/27/11

We also had a couple of pretty good deer pictures:

Deer on 4/24/11

I definitely wouldn't be caught dead in those woods alone (pretty much at any time of the day), but I am gaining quite the fascination with these beautiful creatures. I'm sort of hoping that one walks past our deck one day (when Shadow, Mike and I are safely inside, of course) so that I can see it up close!

I spent the rest of today (ok, ALL of today) laying on the sofa and trying to actually relax. I have definitely been over booking myself lately and need to figure out a way to create some down time. My allergies are kicking my butt, which definitely helped keep me mellow today. We topped it off with 88 Giant Burger for dinner (after all, it is National Burger Month!) and are now headed back to the sofa for some Sunday night mellowness!