Angela Law

animal lover, gardener, knitter, and gourmet cook
 
celebrations, movies

die hard with a surprise party

No, it’s not a new sequel–I had two events going on today.

First, Jake’s girlfriend’s mom had a surprise graduation party for her today. She started vet school early (before having enough credits to graduate from undergrad) and now that her first semester is over, she has enough credits, hence the party. She came home for winter break today, so we had to be there in the afternoon before she arrived. Frankly, it was the greatest party I have ever been to. There were 6 dogs there! I’m now instituting a 3 dog minimum for any future parties I attend.

This evening I had plans with one of my coworkers to watch Die Hard at the State Theater of Johnstown. We went there in October to see Dracula, as well. The theater was showing a bunch of Christmas movies this month and this was one of them (I guess you could argue that it’s not a Christmas movie, but it is definitely considered one). Anyway, the movie was great–I’d seen it before, but just once and it’s been a while. I’ll give it a 4/5. It held up really well.

holidays

holiday preparations

I’m almost ready for Christmas. Jake wanted to make some cookies this year, so we baked a couple batches this week instead of doing our usual chocolate covered pretzels. But, it left me wanting more, so I’m going to do another batch or two of cookies in the next couple days. I have one more batch of dog treats to make and those are getting done tonight. It’s been a few years, but I made some limoncello for gifts, too.

The tree has been up since the beginning of the month, but we didn’t decorate outside this year–the weather never cooperated whenever we had time. Since Jake most likely won’t be around next year, I need to rethink my outside decorating strategy to make things a little easier to do. And, of course, my cards went out earlier this month. I did forget to do photos of the pets until it was too late. Next year, I’m going to have to do them in the summer and not make them Christmas-themed.

I took the afternoon off today and wrapped presents after work and went grocery shopping after supper so I’m all set for Christmas Eve.

Everything is under control.

books

sharp objects

Another good one from the author of Gone Girl, Gillian Flynn. It was a super quick read and will keep you guessing until the very end.

My rating: 4/5

movies

bullet train

Finally, a new movie. This was available on streaming, so I didn’t have to wait for it. While entertaining, it didn’t have much going on the cerebral department. Had Brad Pitt not been in it, I doubt I would have watched. But if action/comedy is your thing, you’ll probably like it.

My rating: 3/5

movies

lost highway

This movie wasn’t as good as I remembered. It must have been the ambiance that got me the first time. We used to go to First Fridays at the Westwood Plaza Theatre, where they’d show an atypical movie and have a band play afterwards. Plus, you could take booze. Those were the days–it was a lot of fun!

We saw this movie at a First Friday. And, I can’t remember, but Brian’s band (including me) might have played afterward. They played at one of them, and this seems like an appropriate movie, but it could have been something else–Scream, maybe? It was such a long time ago…

Anyway, I think I’ve had my fill of David Lynch, though I am still planning on rewatching Mullholland Drive at some point.

I’ve been rewatching a lot of old stuff lately and was hoping to catch something new, but nothing in my DVD queue was available. So, here we are.

My rating: 3/5 (for the memories)