Yesterday afternoon my husband I ventured out to our favorite theater to catch a showing of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast in 3D. That gimmick usually doesn’t work on me and I was really okay with sitting this one out like I did with The Lion King, but BATB is one of my favorite Disney films (explained here) and my husband managed to coax me into going. Like I said, the idea of 3D has never appealed to me and knowing how prone I am to headaches (hello, predicting the slightest change in barometric pressure!), the idea of the 3D hangover wasn’t something I wanted to chance.

I made it out alive and free of pain, other than my back (that’s another story though), having enjoyed the hour-and-a-half love story. While the 3D aspect didn’t pull me in, the idea of seeing a movie I have loved for a long time on the big screen did. I was in 1st grade when BATB came out. I never saw it in the theater so viewing the whole thing so BIG yesterday was neat. The opening sequence was my favorite, when we get our first look at the castle. I think the setting for BATB may be my second favorite next to Snow White and the Seven Dwarves (that creepy moat and dungeon are spectacular). The forest is beautiful and there is so much to notice about the castle. Another big I picked up on were the gorgeous landscapes in this feature. There aren’t many, so you have to watch closely (now I want to break out the DVD and get my pause button ready), but the bit where Belle’s father heads off to the fair has a lovely shot of a valley with a tiny house and lots of pasture/farmland around it, surrounded by mountains in the background. Such a lovely scene. I wish they did more expansive animated landscape shots like that. There I go — I love landscapes, but I know most folks (kids) don’t go to an animated movie for the fields and forests.

The details that I noticed were too numerous to count. There was so much more to soak in seeing this in its intended size! When Belle arrives at the castle for the first time, looking in the misty background behind the gates you can see a large shadow that takes up most of the height of the screen — the Beast’s shadow. I’m going to have to look this up on the DVD to see if it’s in the original version or if this is something they added. I thought it was really cool and kind of ominous. Definitely something I never noticed before.

Inside the castle there were more tiny details that I caught. The paintings in the hallway! Oh my goodness. There was so much famous artwork. I caught a Rembrandt or two and in one scene Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring is very clearly showcased in the background. In the West Wing we see the Beast’s elaborate four-poster bed that is completely wrecked, but the detail is remarkable.

I could gush over this for days, but it really makes me want to rewatch so many of these animated films on the big screen when I get the chance. For now, I settle with my TV.

Related posts:

1. 50 of My Favorite Films — 35-31
2. Fall Films
3. 50 of My Favorite Films — 30-26

This is our…uh…much talked about Christmas card. To clarify — we are not currently expecting a baby. Sorry for any confusion. I just liked the card!

And here is Mom and Dad’s Christmas card. Wishing you all the best this season!

Link up with the 4th Annual Bloggy Holiday Card Exchange!

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3. Plans, they are a’changin’…again.

are you graduating this may or next december?

Well, just cut to the chase, why don’t we? It started a little conversation about what my plans were. This was exactly what he wanted to know and it turns out that it kind of helped him along in his plans. He was invited to Heather’s birthday party later that week along with the rest of her Facebook friends and he checked on the time that it started with me before showing up.

And show up he did, bald head and all. I had absolutely no intention of dating a guy without any hair on his head. None at all. And let the record show that I never did.

He sat diagonally across from me at the table and moved one of the menus because it was blocking his view of me. This I remember. He stole glances at me all evening long and even though we had been chatting on AOL Instant Messenger a lot, there were few, if any, words between us that night. I didn’t know it, but I was working on developing a case of strep that would leave me sick with lingering effects for weeks. My throat was scratchy and I was in a bad mood, but luckily he didn’t let that dissuade him.

We continued talking over the following weeks. He would randomly show up somewhere that I was and just…hang out. One day I was studying at the BSU and he walked in and took a seat at a table behind me. I was working on an exercise for one of my writing classes where you just write whatever is in your head for a solid chunk of time without stopping. Somewhere in the midst of that he decided to pull the 4th grade version of letting a girl know that you like her — he threw a pencil at me. In that notebook (which is somewhere in this house) I scrawled, I think he just threw a pencil at me. What does this mean?

I turned and asked, “Does this belong to you?” and he grinned.

Chris, Kevin’s mentor, walked up and asked, “Is this man bothering you?”

Anyone who knows Chris knows that that is sort of his line, but I’m sure he had no idea how spot on he was at the time.

–

In the middle of all of this, I had been meeting with Cindy, one of the ministry team leaders at the BSU. As conversations between women are wont to do, the topic turned to boys and how lately I was feeling so absolutely content with where I was in life. How finally the big, white wedding was no longer the huge goal I had in sight. It wasn’t that I had given up on it…it just didn’t define me. I was loving the life that God had blessed me with in this moment — a life full of friends and creativity, writing classes and early morning Pilates, teaching 3 and 4 year olds and living life on God’s terms…not my preconceived notions.

That was where I needed to be. I had to find contentment with where I was in my own life — just between me and God — before I would ever be able to handle someone else in the mix.

–

A month later was my 22nd birthday party, fondly referred to as Liz-A-Palooza. There was mild stalking, a Milk Bone incident, and for the first time in my life, I was going to get asked out on a real date.

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Please note that my dad is not actually choking my mother.

He is, to her horror, picking her up.

I am doing the same thing I did at my wedding rehearsal.

Then it looks like my husband thought about picking up my mother. I don’t think he actually did it. Probably in his best interest not to.

Meh.

Trying to get out of the sun.

My little brother, Ryan, doing his best to ruin family photos since 1988.

Oh, so that gets a laugh out of you guys.

We eventually got a couple of good photos. The Christmas cards are finished and ordered and should be here in a few weeks. When I mail them out I’ll post the finished product here! Thanks again to Jessica. These wouldn’t have happened without you.

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We were at Sam’s Club yesterday and accidentally walked into their “taste of the holidays” or whatever it was called. Ran into my friend Amanda right as we were about to leave and I think I was already feverish because it took me a minute to understand why she was wearing a heavy peacoat in the middle of the Sam’s Club when it was 70 degrees outside. Then I realized she was trying it on.

Mom paid for the paper shredder she had picked up in there and we high-tailed it home. After she left around 3:30 I went to take a nap. Which lasted until 6pm. Kevin went to pick up some dinner and I ate it even though I wasn’t the slightest bit hungry. Weird for me because I am generally a bottomless pit and am always hungry in the evening.

I watched the beginning of the disastrous OU vs. Baylor game and took some Nyquil around 7:30 before heading to bed. My falling asleep TV selection was “Ayn Rand in Her Own Words.” Interesting material to fall asleep to. I’ve always enjoyed her writings and while I don’t agree with her on a lot of things, there’s some I do and I found it compelling to watch. Not compelling enough to keep me from a Nyquil coma though.

Woke up a 3:30 with chattering teeth and asked Kevin to turn the heat on. When even the heat wouldn’t help, I knew it was my fever spiking and I checked it. 101. Meh. Got up and made myself some Theraflu which I was able to keep down for a total of 30 minutes. Every muscle in my body was screaming. I did the zombie walk between my recliner and bed a few times before finally passing out on the bed, generating enough heat to melt a small glacier.

When Kevin woke up I said, “Even my scalp hurts.” He’s a pretty good nurse and has been diligent with Icy Hot on my aching back (why is that where the pain is always the worst?). He’s going to make a grocery run for me here in a bit to pick up some flu meds and Epsom salts. A bath is the only thing that sounds good right now.

Praying this is some 24-hour thing that will just pass, but I’m not delusional. Okay, maybe in my fever induced stupor I am.

–

Pinterest is good even for the flu. I found a number of home remedies on there and came up with my own “Please let it not be the flu” Brew. Tweak it for your own needs.

1 large mug
1 tsp orange drink mix
1/2 tsp lemon juice
1/8 tsp cinnamon
a few cloves
a pinch of ginger

Mix dry ingredients and then add lemon juice. Add hot water (I just stuck mine underneath the Keurig). A little local honey would be a nice addition as well. Enjoy

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I parked on the north side, near President Boren’s house, and walked alone to the entrance that students were being guided through. Volunteers were handing out leis and I slipped one over my head. It was pink and it matched my skirt. That I remember.

I searched the crowd for the faces of my friends. Heather was somewhere in the mix and I maneuvered past the groups of people to where she was. As usual at this beginning of the year party things were loud and it was hard to hear a conversation at normal volume unless you were pressed into a circle. That’s how most of us were that weren’t taking advantage of the volleyball nets that had been set up nearby.

We got in line for snow cones from one of the local favorites that was set up specially for the party. Mine was green and I rarely ordered a green snow cone. It’s weird that I recall that, but I think it was green apple. Which was probably the lesser of two evils.

Somewhere in the crowd was a tall lanky boy who was most likely surrounded by a large group of friends or traveling from group to group. He was just as social then as he is now, probably more so. I don’t remember seeing him that night, but he remembers seeing me. And when he did, he didn’t recall the evening a few months earlier when we talked about westerns and school and what we were planning on doing with our lives. But that night he looked across the crowd at me in a pink skirt and black shirt, with my hair pulled back in a ponytail and my hands most likely still smelling a little like bleach from the day school, and decided he was interested in finding out more about this quiet, laughing girl. Me.

He left the party early, but not before deciding he was going to find out more about me. Maybe it was for the best that he didn’t stick around any longer than he did. A few minutes more and he would have been witness to my foray into the world of karaoke with a some of my friends. The song we sang was, by no accident, the same one that he and I would walk back up the aisle to less than three years from this night. But it was going to take some work to get there.

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30. Thumbelina
Let me be your wings / Leave behind the world you know / For another world of wondrous things

This one was really underrated when it was released (I vividly remember the episode of Siskel & Ebert) but I LOVED it. Possibly because the prince in the story was sporting a ROCKIN’ bowl haircut. And when I was in 3rd-4th grade that was awesome.

I love this one for the music. There are a number of sweet songs and it features a voice familiar to many of you out there — Jodi Benson. That’s right. Ariel from Disney’s The Little Mermaid. (She’ll be 50 this year!) And the music is composed by none other than Barry Manilow. I didn’t know this until years later, but it goes to show how exquisite my taste was even back when I was in elementary school.

Oh, Mandy…

29. William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet
Two households, both alike in dignity,
In fair Verona, where we lay our scene,
From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,
Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.
From forth the fatal loins of these two foes
A pair of star-cross’d lovers take their life;
Whose misadventured piteous overthrows
Do with their death bury their parents’ strife.

Let me first say that I hated reading this in high school. And to that I should also add that yes, I do have a degree in English, but for the most part I could do without Shakespeare. (Do looove Macbeth though.)

You hear that in the distance? They are coming for me, so I’ve got to hurry this along.

The story itself doesn’t do much for me. The kids are immature and behave in ways that would make you think their frontal lobes aren’t fully functional. Oh wait. They’re adolescents…so their brains aren’t firing on all cylinders. Anyway, even if the story isn’t right up my alley, this movie is. I love the cinematography, the way Baz Luhrmann and the screenwriters made this flow so seamlessly in a modern setting.

The “Kissing You” (party) scene is my favorite of them all. The song still makes my heart all fluttery like the first time I saw it in 1997. Sigh. Young love, people.

This is the one on the list that my husband will not watch again. I watched Dune in exchange for him watching this. In case you don’t recall, I WAS ON THE LOSING END, folks.

28. Beauty & the Beast
I want adventure in the great wide somewhere
I want it more than I can tell
And for once it might be grand
To have someone understand
I want so much more than they’ve got planned

Allow me to set the scene for you. It’s 1991. I’ve just started 1st grade. We’ve survived the hey day of The Little Mermaid. My best friend has long, flowing red hair. Guess who gets to be Ariel on the playground? Hint: Not the somewhat tall for her age brunette.

And then I saw a short segment about a new Disney movie on Entertainment Tonight (why was I watching this??). The heroine’s name was Belle, she had brown hair, and loved to read.

SCORE.

As the only brunette in my class who was interested in being a princess in playground games, my role was secure for at least the next year.

Beauty & the Beast is one of my favorite fairy tales of all time. I think the story and the lessons to be learned from it are awesome. It’s so much more than just a silly romance. It’s a story of redemption, seeing the good inside a person, and getting past fear and prejudice. I love it. It speaks to me.

27. Out of Africa
Perhaps he knew, as I did not, that the Earth was made round so that we would not see too far down the road.

It’s an odd feeling, farewell. There is such envy in it. Men go off to be tested, for courage. And if we’re tested at all, it’s for patience, for doing without, for how well we can endure loneliness.

Bring me some tissue because I’m going to cry just thinking about it. I don’t have the words to do it justice.

Sydney Pollack was a master. John Barry, a genius. And I’d give my eye teeth to have Meryl Streep portray a character that I wrote.

If you haven’t seen this film — what are you waiting for? Every bit of it is breathtaking.

26. The Ghost and Mrs. Muir
You must make your own life amongst the living and, whether you meet fair winds or foul, find your own way to harbor in the end.

Gene Tierney stars as Lucy Muir, a widow who comes to live in a haunted seaside cottage in England. Rex Harrison is the dashing, and very dead, Capt. Gregg. It’s a sweet movie and one of my favorite things about it is Rex Harrison’s humorous delivery. Capt. Gregg has an opinion on everything and because so few people can actually see or hear him, he’s very open to sharing it.

This one is heartbreaking in a way, despite the light tone the film takes at times, because these two are separated by the greatest gulf that exists. Catch it on TV sometime. It’s shown quite often.

–

We’re halfway through!

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“I could be your Eva Peron.”
“Didn’t she have an affair?”
“Many.”
“I don’t want you to be my Eva Peron.”

And you thought I was kidding about the totalitarian dictator thing. Ha!

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We moved Kevin out of his old classroom and into the new one at a new school. (and his wife left her camera AND phone in the car for that haul)

I said goodbye to my old office…

…and hello to my new office. With an officemate! And windows! SQUIRREL! (literally)

We went to a car wash fundraiser. My husband washed a car. I stood in the shade.

I washed the volleyball team’s jerseys.

I was shocked that I’d never encountered a child with this name before…

…but give it time. I’m sure it’ll make its way around eventually.

An anonymous person brought cupcakes for me and my coworkers.

Both beautiful and delicious.

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• That thing up there is headed our direction and I’m THRILLED.
• I announced this on Twitter and Facebook, but realized I left those of you who don’t use either of those services in the dark. KEVIN GOT A JOB. Woohoo!
• It feels very 80s of me, probably because I remember seeing a box of epsom salts in the bathroom cabinet for years during the 80s, but I love epsom salt baths and had one last night. It was refreshing. And I found this nifty list of the benefits of bathing in epsom salts. This is something I’ll be doing more often!
• Kevin wrote up a more detailed explanation of the job loss and subsequent hiring in a new school district on his blog.
• This is the portion of the year where I ardently look forward to the weekend. Long hours and high temps all make for a very tired ME. So, like boring married people, Kevin and I have been going to bed very early. It’s great.
• We’re getting into a new routine. Waking up earlier, him commuting, having less time together in the evenings. I can already tell that part is going to be difficult for me because I’ve been spoiled so far in our marriage with us having almost exactly the same schedule. With me working the slightly longer hours/more days. It has not helped that when people find out our new situation the first thing they say is, “You’ll never see him again” in regard to coaching. I know it’s just their initial reaction coming out, but I’m well aware of that fact. WELL AWARE, people. No need to keep saying it. Because that’s the thing that makes me want to cry. (Thankful for the job, not so happy about the whole “ships passing” thing. And like I said — I know we were spoiled to begin with, but that doesn’t make it any less painful. I know other people have it worse. I don’t need to hear that right now though.)
• I’m glad I finally decided to watch Cheers. It’s brilliant! I barely ever remember it being on in my house, most likely because it’s about a BAR and I was a wee babe when it was on. But it’s one of the few TV shows that I remember from very early on. That and Family Ties. I wish I had access to old primetime lineups so that I could remember the things we watched on TV. I remember we were big Tuesday night people (Full House in its early days).
• Got to start going to the gym on a regular basis again. Someone check back in a week and hound me if I have not gone.

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