Day Off = Welcome Free Time!

My last day of official On-The-Job Work was yesterday (Work is Closed today!), which means:
I HAVE A DAY OFF!! Woo hoo!!

What to do with myself? There are  SOOO many choices, I can't decide.
:)

I have cooking I can do and recipe research....especially now that I'm having to move to a more whole-foods, non-processed food diet - kinda the like the Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD) [think grain-free, lactose-free, sugar-free, etc.]. So I'm looking at various recipes geared for the SCD.

Tangent Warning:
          Its very interesting to see how much I've improved health wise now that I've extremely limited my grains - no, I haven't cut them completely - in the last few weeks, plus I've upped my fresh veggies and fruit, and nixed refined sugar (except for a couple of splurges - like a chocolate or two on Boxing Day with Family :). Not that I've gone overboard with honey or molasses as alternative sweeteners right now. Just cutting the sugar. Its AMAZING how much of our (American) food products have sweeteners - we as a society have so gotten used to sweet things!
      Between the new diet, and going twice a week to see an Acupuncturist (who's also a Herbalist & Nutritionist - she does a blending of practicing Eastern & Western medicine basically, and I highly recommend her! Dr. Kathleen Albertson, L.Ac., PhD - OC Acupuncture), taking the ground Herbs (blend of Evergreen Herbs mixed by Dr. Albertson) in my tea, I'm definitely seeing positive changes. I'm sure some of it is due to the fact that I'm just getting "down time" at the Acupuncturist visits (yay for relaxation time :). One immediately noticeable change is that my Adult Acne (which has gotten worse in the last few years) has drastically improved! YAY! (Who knew/guessed that it was a reaction to bacteria caused by my body not being able to process certain foods/things? My dermatologist sure didn't!) Anyways, there's other benefits/reasons that I don't feel like going into on this blog posting, but this certainly is a good start. Hopefully will have a much HEALTHIER year in 2012! :)
End of Tangent 

Let's see, I could also spend time baking, since I never did do any baking of Christmas/Holiday cookies (I'll have to give away the majority of what I make, but the baking itself is fun - plus it smells wonderful :).

I could spend some much-needed time sewing (way too many current projects to list right now :) - or Knitting. (I'm currently trying my hand knitting a Sontag or Bosom Friend  from an 1860 pattern...with a little help from someone who's already tried it and written her notes/translation to the pattern: posted here )

Of course, there are a TON of flicks in the movie theaters right now that I really want to see. (Finally!! There was a long stretch of "eh, no really that interested in spending my money on that movie" - besides my being super busy :).

My list of Movies currently in theaters (some for not much longer, some just released, listed in no particular order) that I want to see:

1) The Artist;
2) Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy;
3) Adventures of Tin Tin
4) Hugo
5) Muppets
6) Mission Impossible: GP
7) War Horse
8) J. Edgar
9) My Week with Marilyn
10) Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

     (Yes, I've seen the Swedish films - guess its time to see how the US version holds up :)
and

11) Puss in Boots (still playing in my local Cheap/$2 theater :)

I started Movie Weekend last night with "Breaking Dawn: Part 1" (Yes, the current Twilight Movie - no judging! :).

I think I may try to see the Muppets & Hugo today (since they've been out longer and have limited show times).

So many things to possibly do! Love it! :)

CGW Goes to Harry Potter 7.1 (Nov 2010)

CGW Goes to Harry Potter 7.1 (Nov 2010), a set on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
Pics from the CGW Event "CGW Goes to Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows Part 1" on November 19, 2010.
(I forgot to post these sooner :).

---

Well, I *finally* got around to uploading my pic from the "CGW Goes to see the Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows Part 1 Movie" event last November.

It was such a great time - we got a good number of people who showed up *in costume* no less, and of course lots of people staring at us (and occasionally asking us to take pics with them and or them telling us how 'cool' it was that we came in costume). We certainly enjoyed ourselves and especially the Picture Session afterwards (as evidenced by some of the fun posed photos we took in this set).

I'm certainly looking forward to the NEXT event, though of course I'm sad that its the last one. After all...."It all ends 7.15".

For More Details on the upcoming July 2011 event, check out our CGW event page: http://www.cgwcostumers.org/events/Event_20110715_HarryPotter.htm
(we also have an event page on Facebook - so find us and click I'm attending if you're joining us!)


p.s. you do NOT have to be a CGW member to attend, so bring your friends! :)

Adventures in Ticket Purchasing (Harry Potter Group Movie Outing)

Yesterday afternoon tickets for non-Midnight showings of Harry Potter at Cinema Fusion Anaheim went on sale. Yes! (Finally!!)

Besides the fact that Cinema Fusion Anaheim is a pretty nice movie theater, in a nice outdoor shopping center (Garden Walk of Anaheim, near Disneyland), it also happens to have a 21+ Screening Room! Yes, that's right - one of their theater rooms is reserved for patrons who are at least 21 years old. (And yes, they do have a bar, so you can have beer or wine with your movie, if you prefer :)

The main selling point for my group with regards to this location for our group movie outing is the fact that while we all like the Harry Potter movies, and most of us going are costumers (or know someone who costumes) and will use any reasonable excuse to dress up ;-), we all REALLY like the idea of seeing the next Harry Potter movie without a gaggle of noisy kids in the audience!

As I'm the designated person to check show times and buy a block of tickets for our group :), I've been checking the website seems like daily for a while now, but no luck....until yesterday afternoon/evening. (I was in contact via email with someone at the theater, and had been told to definitely start checking on late Monday afternoon, 7/7...but unfortunately nothing was posted on Monday ). So, yesterday when I got home from work, I checked the theater website and saw that times were now posted for non-midnight showings! Yes! I immediately looked to see if there's *an around 8pm* showing for Friday 7/17. (Our ideal time since we have people driving down from Los Angeles to join us in the OC). However, the only 8:00pm showing was in the regular (general/family) theater and not the 21+ theater. Our choices were either 7:15pm or 10:15pm...so I quickly decided upon the 7:15pm and attempted to buy the block of tickets.

Problem! Oh no! Website would only allow a max of 6 tickets to be purchased at a time. I could theoretically purchase 6, and then go through the steps again...twice... to make sure I buy enough tickets for our group of 13. But that's just plain annoying. Group ticket discount doesn't start until you have a min. of 25 people, but you can't purchase more than 6 online? What's with that? (Plus, who knows if the credit card company will find multiple purchases from the same place w/in a matter of minutes a tad suspicious? Don't really want to find out).

So, by this time, I'm a tad frustrated cause I can't find a number to call the theater directly and talk to a 'live' person. And I decide I'll just DRIVE over to the box office and buy the tickets directly. They should be able to sell me enough ticktes in one purchase. So I did.
=)

I quickly sent out an email to the group to let them know of the change in estimated time (to an actual time), and that I was driving over to purchase the tickets. And then while I was driving I started placing phone calls to make sure people got the message. (Didn't want to get tickets for someone if they couldn't make the 7:15pm show after all!) Fortunately, no one had a problem with the slightly earlier time for the show. (Later would have been easier for people traveling, obviously, but that wasn't the hand that we were dealt).

Instead of heading directly to the theater, though, I took a detour and headed over to the Hensley's place, since they're fairly near my destination. After chatting for a few minutes (and they finished their dinner), Charlie, Rowan, & I went over to buy tickets (while Maegen and Rhiannon stayed home...Rhiannon decided to skip joining us cause she was dressed in her pretty blue princess dress and wanted to watch Cinderella while mom sewed ;-).

At the Garden Walk, we made our way over to the theater, and I went inside to purchase 13 tickets while Charlie walked around (pushing Rowan in his stroller).

Success!! I was able to purchase 13 tickets for Friday, July 17th at 7:15pm.
And I let them know we were coming in costume!
The guy working the register asked me what I/we were coming as, so I rattled off a few of the names of characters (outfits) we had signed up. He then turned to his co-worker (or manager, not sure), and said something to the effect of 'make sure I'm working that night' :).
LOL!

I made sure to get the parking structure ticket validated at the Theater, then went to find Charlie & Rowan. I eventually met up with them, and we made our way to the car...only to discover at the car that the now-validated parking structure ticket was MISSING! Ack!!! Frantic searching was to no avail. I went through my entire purse and wallet (a few times)...even had Charlie look. Nothing. I retraced my steps, went back to the theater and inquired if I had somehow left it or dropped it as I left...still nothing.

Dissapointed, I continued to retrace my steps and even asked a janitor if he saw a parking structure ticket on the ground. (His English wasn't that great, so I'm not sure if he really understood my question. Oh well).

I met up with Charlie on a different level of the parking structure, where he had stopped after driving around with Rowan (who had started fussing while just sitting in the carseat in an unmoving car). We watched the end of the Disneyland fireworks (well, I semi-watched...I was still going through my purse and wallet...again) while Rowan had a bottle.

When the fireworks ended, we gave up on finding the ticket and made our way to the exit where we spilled our sob story about losing the ticket and only coming in to purchase tickets (which I showed). This guy wouldn't budge - no ticket = pay max parking fee ($12!!). Bummer!

Though dissapointing to have to pay the parking fee, at LEAST we did manage to score enough Harry Potter tickets for the day and time we wanted. :) Yay!!!

(And yes, I double checked that I had all 13 as we left the parking structure :)

So that's my adventure in buying tickets for the new Harry Potter movie!


AND if anyone else would like to join us, feel free to come along. (You just need to get your own tickets). The more the merrier!!
:)


DATE: Friday, July 17, 2009
Movie Showtime: 7:15pm
Theater: Cinema Fusion Anaheim (21+ Screening Room)
http://www.cinemafusionanaheim.com/
>Located at the Anaheim Garden Walk (on the corner of Disney Way and Clementine, on the 3rd floor)
>Address: 321 W. Katella Ave, Anaheim, CA 92802
>Parking: there's a parking structure off Disney Way or Katella Ave, but the closest access to the theater is from the 4th floor of the structure off of Disney Way. (4 hours FREE parking with validation from the theater).


Current "Cast of Characters" attending:

Molly Weasley (me!)
Ginny Weasley
Hermione Granger
Luna Lovegood
Professor Sybill Trelawney
Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody
Draco Malfoy
Rita Skeeter
Fleur Delacour (in her blue Beauxbatons traveling outfit)
Nymphadora Tonks
and the rest are probably misc. students from Hogwarts.


So, if anyone else would like to join the group movie outing, here's a simple, easy costume: a generic student (from any of the houses)! We could always use a few more "Hogwarts Students" in our group. =)

Generic Hogwart's Student Outfit: Black skirt or pants, white button up shirt, black or grey sweater, tie, and black shoes (and in the case of girls, some Mary-Jane's for shoes). Easy!

White Christmas playing at the historic LA Theater!

On Sunday December 7th at 2:00pm the Los Angeles Theater (a historic theater in downtown LA) will be showing "White Christmas" (1954). How fun is that? =)

I am SO going! (And I'm going with some other costumers too).

Now, if I can somehow manage to pull together a 1950s outfit in time, that will just be the icing on the cake. =)

FYI - for others interested in coming along, tickets ($10/adult) can be purchased at the LA Conservancy website.

https://secure2.convio.net/lac/site/Ecommerce?VIEW_PRODUCT=true&product_id=3421&store_id=2341

Los Angeles Theater

615 South Broadway, Downtown L.A.

MST3K: The Movie - now on DVD!!!

Ok, I just can't tell you how EXCITED I am to find out that one of my favorite movies has finally made it to DVD!

"Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie"
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0013527KC/dvdtalk

Gretchen & I used to watch this in our dorm room in Biola a ton of times. We even quoted from it randomly.



Here are some of my more favortie quotes:

Mike Nelson: "Eat at Joe's. Eat at Joe's. Eat at Joes."

Tom Servo: "Suddenly I have a refreshing mint flavor."

Tom Servo: "It's the amazing technicolor cheese wedge!"

Mike Nelson: "Doesn't the fact that it's universal make it international?"

Crow T. Robot: "Hey! Who sneezed on the credits?"

[as Tom Servo reads the opening credits:]
Tom Servo: "Okay, let's see here... Shatner, Shatner... no, doesn't look like he's in this one; we're safe."

Mike Nelson: "Washingtonland, the new Disney theme park."

Crow T. Robot: "The secret government Eggo Project!"

[upon seeing that there is no one flying the plane]
Mike: "I'm your pilot, Claud Rains. Your co-pilot, Harvey the Rabbit."

[as Exeter's flying saucer catches fire]
Crow T. Robot:"Service engine soon" I wonder what that's all about.



If you have a favorite quote, and it's not already up here, please feel free to post them via comments!
=)


-=-Becky