Keep Your Pants On

Oh my. I was almost to the end of the longest and most action packed posting ever and my browser just shut down and I lost it all. I might cry. No, I’m just going to do my very best to recreate it, although one or two subjects may have to wait for another day. After not posting in well over a week, I hope you all have enjoyed this when you finish reading it…sometime tomorrow.

First, at long last, my Top 10 Chick Flicks:

1. French Kiss
2. Fools Rush In
3. Say Anything
4. Shakespeare In Love
5. Shall We Dance
6. One Fine Day
7. Serendipity
8. Fever Pitch
9. Father of the Bride 1 & 2
10. How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days

And as a bonus, Mama Patty’s:

1. You’ve Got Mail
2. One Fine Day
3. Legally Blonde
4. Serendipity
5. Sleepless In Seattle
6. Little Women
7. Meet Me In St. Louis
8. Return To Me
9. Father of the Bride
10. Only You

Also, Caffeinated Sugar Monkey is soliciting top 10 comedies. Head over this way to read her post and weigh in. (Mama Patty and I both have lists there as well.)

(By the way, Mama Patty is not a reader or contributor to this blog, but compiling her lists this afternoon provided at least 30 minutes of entertainment for her and frustration for me as she edited and reordered.)

So there. Whew. I saw The Break-Up this weekend. Spoiler alert! (To read the rest of the paragraph, highlight the text.) Vince Vaughn and Jennifer Aniston were both excellent and I personally think there was great chemistry between them. She definitely played it straight as a vehicle for his improv. Jason Bateman, Vincent D’Onofrio, and Justin Long were all almost painful to watch in their characters’ awkwardness. I know I’m needing a Chicago fix because seeing all of the familiar sights (such as The Riv (yeah for Uptown!), Wrigley, the whole River North area where I worked the entire time I lived there, etc.) gave me an ache to get up there for a visit. Which reminds me – I was excited to see an exterior shot of the Fireside Bowl, but the interior shots look like there were taken elsewhere. Can anyone confirm this? If it truly is the Fireside inside and out, they’ve really cleaned the place up, and not necessarily for the better. The ending was definitely not your typical Hollywood happiness. You get the feeling that there is potential for a reconciliation, but the final scene is so awkward (there’s that word again) that you leave the theater feeling a little bad for both characters. I had heard that it had been reshot because test audiences didn’t like the fact that Vincifer did not end up together in the end yet that is the ending I saw. With a happier finale (see Guideline #4) it might have ended up in my Top 10 Chick Flicks.

Two days until I leave for Hawaii. I haven’t been talking about it much on the blog but those people I see most often in person (such as the bookstore crew) are, I’m sure, ready to strangle me if I mention it again. To their credit, they have all been extremely gracious about listening to my plans and showing the appropriate response when I've repeatedly pointed out pictures of my hotel and its proximity to the ocean in our travel books. I’ve had countdowns everywhere – my MySpace, hula website, whiteboard in the office, and name tag at the store. My pre-tan is so deep that more than one person has asked me if I’ve already been on my trip. As we get older, there are fewer and fewer events in our lives that cause the kind of excitement that distract us from sleep and monopolize our conversations. Years of dashed expectations keep us from getting too eager about anything but the most major of events (think most New Years and Valentines). Weddings and babies tend to trump most of our other positive adult experiences. But for me, this trip (along with every BFW that I am a part of), despite all of the drama leading up to it, is an event worthy of marking off the days on the calendar with a big red marker. It is just starting to sink in that 48 hours from now, I will be arriving in Honolulu for a week in paradise. Excuse me while I go squeal.

The packing is going pretty well. I have just a couple of items to grab at the store tomorrow and a little more laundry, but most everything is organized and sitting in my suitcase already. I have encountered the dilemma common to the other writers of this blog which is how many and which books to take with me? I do not expect reading to be a higher priority than absorbing the sights and sounds of the islands, but I do have a lot of travel time on both ends of the trip that could be useful for knocking out several titles that I’ve been meaning to get to. Kel, any suggestions? What did you do for France? I’ll post a summary of our itinerary tomorrow. I'm also hoping to post while in Hawaii (there is a business center at the hotel) and may have a couple of surprises in store if I can figure out how to make them happen. Watch the blog for details.

As much fun as I will be having in Hawaii, I am a bit jealous about missing Ultra Mini BFW, although I really have no right to be since I got to see Sars & Soph for 3 whole days last month. What can I say, I like hanging out with you guys. Have fun in Texas, Kel!

Hate to end this on a sad note, but I do want to take a moment to say that our thoughts and prayers are with the families and friends of the people wounded and killed in the accident last month involving a van carrying students and staff of Taylor University. There is no need to rehash the details here as there are many other sources online to read all of the grisly details. But as Wheaton alumni, we have many connections to the Taylor community and our hearts are heavy as they deal with this tremendous loss.

I’ve posted a clip of me singing in church last Sunday on my MySpace. It wouldn’t make any top 10 lists (2 hours sleep and a bad sound mix do not a good performance make) but it’s acceptable. Plus I love the song.

Still with me? Gold star for you.