I really like going to the movies. It's my jam

My local movie theater is celebrating its birthday by offering every ticket to any movie for $5 for members of their awards program. I am such a member. I've got a three-day weekend ahead of me, and $5 movies? Sounds pretty fantastic, doesn't it? Sure, if there were better movies that I want to see in the theater. I think they planned the weekend to celebrate the birthday, with the least possible damage being done.
I've already bought the tickets for our Saturday morning viewing of Crazy Rich Asians.
Other movies in our theater this weekend include A.X.L., of which I know nothing; The Happytime Murders, which JJ and Anthony said wasn't worth the money; Kin, The Little Stranger and Alpha, all of which I don't want to see; Blackkklansman, which looks funny, but is definitely a rental; Christopher Robin, Incredibles 2, The Meg and Mission Impossible: Fallout, all of which we've seen already; and Operation Finale and Death of a Nation, which I don't want to see.
That leaves me with Mile 22, starring Mark Wahlberg, who I don't really enjoy on screen, and Papillon, which I'm intrigued by, but it looks super dark.
There really is nothing else for me to buy $5 tickets for, and it's frustrating the hell out of me. I'm honestly in an existential crisis right now. I'm ready to buy tickets for movies I don't really want to see so I can buy cheap tickets to a movie. I have a sickness.

A random reflection on PSLs

The season of pumpkin spice has begun, IN AUGUST, thanks to Starbucks. The coffee chain started serving their pumpkin spice lattes today, and the news has been splashed all over my Facebook and Instagram feed. Not that there's anything wrong with that. I know so many people that were ecstatic with the news that their favorite drink would be available for longer this year.
Like I said this morning about this, though, is that it's still well into the warmer temperatures here in Arizona, and I couldn't imagine drinking a hot drink. And I envy anyone who has the weather to accommodate such a thing at this point.
For me, the season is still very, very summer, and I am drinking cold drinks day and night. I may be able to open my windows at night in about four weeks or so. As of now, I am living the life of the air conditioner dependent.
I'm not a fan of the pumpkin spice latte, though, and will withhold my excitement for when peppermint mochas come around.

Viva Las Vegas, BABY!

So the Family G. went to Las Vegas this past weekend! We had a wonderful time, though Brian was in class most of both days. Sydney and I took the opportunity to adventure along Las Vegas Blvd., and visited most every casino on the Strip.
FRIDAY: We left Arizona and hit the road to Vegas. We stopped at Hoover Dam exactly 45 minutes after it closed, so that was a bummer. I set our Google Maps to take us to the "Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas" sign, and I'm happy to say that we got a decent picture of the sign, and some good selfies with it. The line to pose under the sign was crazy long so we decided against that. We spent the weekend at the Excalibur hotel, and while the room was good enough for the cheap weekend I was striving for, it won't be anything that we'll do again. We walked up the street to Bellagio for dinner, and ate at their buffet. It was super late by the time we ate, so we just walked back to our hotel and went to bed after that.
SATURDAY: Brian was up and out of the room early, so Sydney and I ordered room service for breakfast, and then took the Monorail up to the stop closest to Circus Circus. Our plan was to walk down one side of the Strip on Saturday, and the other side on Sunday. Circus Circus was a bit disappointing, so we left there pretty quickly. We took a cab to Treasure Island, and therein began our trek down the Strip. It was hot and uncomfortable, so we ducked into every casino we walked by. We had lunch at Caesars Palace, had a cold drink at Mandarin Oriental, and enjoyed some water at New York New York. At that point, we were exhausted and overheated, so we went back to our hotel. Friday night consisted of tickets to the Beatles Love by Cirque du Soleil, and dinner at the Carnegie Deli in the Mirage. The show was really, really good! Our day was so tiring! My feet and legs hurt so much!
SUNDAY: Again, Brian left early for class. Sydney and I decided to check out the hotel's breakfast buffet, and discovered that the buffet should definitely have been what we should have done the previous morning. It was way better than the room service. We started our day at The Venetian and Madame Tussauds, and wandered down the street at our leisure again, stopping here and there for a cold drink and a dose of air conditioner. I was able to get some shopping done at the ABC Store on the Strip, which made me SO HAPPY, and Sydney was able to pick her favorite colored M&Ms at the M&M Store. We had a chocolate milkshake at the Hershey Store. We made our way to Luxor for a quick walk-around, and then back to our hotel, where Brian had returned to pick us up. He finished his class about two hours early, so we were able to make it to Hoover Dam while it was open, and then made our drive home.
Here's something different for a trip to Las Vegas: Neither Brian or I had a single alcoholic drink, nor did we gamble a single cent. I mean, I don't like to gamble, so that wasn't an anomaly for me, but for not even Brian to put a single quarter in a slot machine was pretty crazy. We do usually have some kind of celebratory cocktail though, but for whatever reason, we didn't even do that. not that there's anything wrong with that. I am perfectly happy not drinking when I'm spending the weekend with my kid, and I'll saw that she is probably the reason why I was fine with spending my weekend totally sober and with all my change in my pocket.
Next trip to Vegas, though, includes a room at Bellagio with a view of the fountains, and at least one fancy drink.

Coffee table, end table, RAH! RAH! RAH!

I have a new coffee table and new end table in my living room right now. And the construction estimates on both tables via the website were way off. I don't know who would take two to three hours to put together a construction such as the two tables I now have, but that person needs some real help. It took Brian and I about 30 minutes to put together both tables.
The possible problem with the tables is that the wood itself is untreated. Next week, I will venture over to Lowe's to find a wood sealant that will not add any color to the tables. As my husband reminded me, he is coaster-adverse, so if I want to keep my table water ring-free, I'll have to seal that table up. No problem; Mom tells me that there is a sealant such that I'm looking for.
But really, the tables are larger than the original tables we had, so that'll take some getting used to.
Next week, sealant and TV stand.

The living room changes continue apace

Doing things to the living room will be a recurring theme of the blog here until the living room is done having things done to it. Consider this a warning, I guess ...
Last night, Brian asked where the end table was going to go, and expressed a wish to have it next to the sofa, so we could have a place to put the phones while they're charging. Putting the end table there is of course not going to work because it's too big. But putting a smaller table kind of thing there intrigued me. And then I remembered that there is a small table in the larger nesting table.
I took out the smaller table and placed it in front of the lamp in the living room. The color of the lamp base and the table match perfectly, and the lamp bottom actually fits between the legs of the table, so the two things actually kind of ... go together? They don't look too bad. I'll have to send a picture of them to my on-staff interior designer, but I think it's a surprisingly palatable solution. At Target this afternoon, I picked up a small basket in which I placed the large charging brick, so now it won't drop and fall on the floor. I think it'll work out okay for all involved, to tell you the truth.
Tomorrow, my new coffee table and end table arrive, and I'm super excited. I actually might have to save them for next week though, since I may not have the time to put them together tomorrow night. And we'll be out of town this weekend.
Anyway, I did another thing in the living room today.

[Editor's Note: This photo is not of my living room, and that's a damn shame because that chair is amazing on so many levels.]

Knocking some stuff off my list

You guys, my living room is beginning to come together!
My new area rug arrived today, and while it was a lot of work to get the whole thing rolled out and placed how I wanted it by myself because I'm impatient, I'm super, super pleased with the result. The silver color I was hoping would work works incredibly well. And the size of the rug is ideal for the space.
While I had to remove the loveseat from my shopping list, the rest of the room is going to fit together very well. The coffee table and end table are scheduled for delivery on Thursday, and I think the end table will fit just fine where I wasn't sure if it would work or not. I hated putting my old, red coffee table on my new awesome gray rug tonight; the only consolation being that it will only be there for a couple more days. I'll wait until Thursday to order my new TV stand, because now I'm very motivated to get the old TV stand out of the room, because it's dark and doesn't work with my new vision.
honestly, once the living room is done, I have very little left on my list for the home. The cozy chair needs to be reupholstered, and that's really kind of it. Some moving around of things, perhaps, but in the most general sense, there's only one or two things to finish up.
Which is good, because our lease here is up next August, and I think that we'll be moving to a new home, and then I can start my list of things to change all over.

Back on a laptop, for better not worse

I'm trying something new tonight.
Sydney got a new laptop from her grandparents, not for school, but for play, and I have decided to turn it into my blogging computer, as well. Now, it's just a matter of getting myself used to grabbing the laptop when I head upstairs, and getting my blogging on. Tonight is the first of those nights, and we'll see if this can become a habit again.
I don't have much to share with you this evening, sadly, but to hope that this will open up my brain a bit more again, as well as exercise my fingers a bit more than they have been lately, and see if that will help with my hand cramping.
Oh, wait! I did so something random this evening! I was super bored, and downloaded a yoga app to my Apple TV downstairs. Sydney and I did two 15-minute sessions of yoga together, and it was pretty awesome. We did a flexibility session, and a lower-back morning stretch session. I won't lie, my legs were kinda wobbly when we finished the second session, but in a super good way.
I'm actually pretty excited to do the session again tomorrow, just to see how much better I'll do after just a day.
The sessions cover all kinds of concentrations, and go from beginner to intermediate to expert. Not that I'll be an expert any time soon, but the beginner class worked pretty well for me today. Could it be? Yoga to the rescue? I'm so bored lately, you guys, that this may just be a really good thing for me.