Chat…Just Because

Over the Fourth of July holiday, Don, Madeline and I went to see Pixar’s animated movie, ‘UP’ in 3D. I don’t usually head out to the movies with any regularity, but I was glad I did for this one. My brother had seen it a few weeks before and highly recommended it. I figure, he’s into making movies, so his suggestions are usually on target. Elyse had also seen it with her friend and thought it was adorable.

So sweet it was! What I found interesting was thatwhile it was a well-written piece, there seemed to be a minimal amount of dialogue, yet I didn’t feel like I was missing anything. Much of the storytelling and sentiments were depicted with the expressions of the characters faces, funny and breathtaking action scenes or beautiful visuals. It was so nice not having my ears assaulted with incessant jabbering or gratuitous dialogue. The story was completed with the perfect combination of resolution and hopefulness. And of course the animation was beautiful.

Many reviews say it is the best animated movie that has been completed to date. Go see it though for the story and the messages. Although billed as a children’s movie, adults will be more than happy that they experienced it as well.

Yay! What a great weekend! Weather was beautiful; hung out with the kids and Don; got in a 1.5 hour hike on Saturday and another long walk on Sunday; and managed to nearly complete five newly designed necklaces! I say nearly because I’m waiting on some clasps to finish off a few of them. Should have those by the end of this week.

Don and I will have a lots of pieces to photograph next weekend, and hopefully after that, we’ll get those pretties out on the site.

In the meantime, check out my cool new silver sandals I bought this weekend! Warm weather can’t get here soon enough, y’know?

My friend over at Pink Lemonade Boutique Bags recently ran a blog post that lists 99 possible things to do this year. While I mentioned in my previous post I’m not one for resolutions, this is fun little exercise, the best part of which was that I didn’t need to come up with the 99 things! (I have my own personal list I’d like to focus on for the year, but I’m only on number 42.) So while I continue to expand my list, here is the premade list with the items I’ve completed in bold.

You could do this on your blog, or just have fun comparing notes with your friends and family!

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii and danced on a lava cliff with the roar of the Pacific below (I wish!)
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland (not quite; Disneyworld, yes)
8. Climbed a mountain (does a six-mile hike in Colorado Rockies count?)
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied (ok, it was a fleeting moment, but it happened)
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris (nope, just in Las Vegas)
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie (I did a voiceover for a commercial)
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Kissed a stranger at midnight on New Year’s Eve
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake (walked on the edge, but didn’t swim; too smelly)
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee

Ok, so here’s one from my personal list:
Spent a month vacationing in the Mediterranean with my family on a friend’s yacht (preferably, my friend George Clooney)

Can you add one (or more) of your fun things you’d like to do to this list?

Me and my family don’t usually watch television, but we sure do like getting in our traditional Christmas shows and movies this time of year. One of our favorites is Elf, starring Will Ferrell, James Caan and Zooey Deschanel and Bob Newhart. Every time we watch it, we laugh ourselves silly. It’s one of those that gets funnier with every viewing (that, or I’m just more easily tickled as I age). Then of course, we wind up peppering our conversations for the next two weeks with memorable lines from the show.

For example, someone will walk into the bathroom and we’ll hear, “Have you seen these toilets? They’re GINORMOUS!” or we’ll be discussing what we want for dinner, and we’ll get, “We elves try to stick to the four main food groups: candy, candy canes, candy corns and syrup.”  Call our house during the holidays and you might hear, “Buddy the Elf! What’s your favorite color?” Someone having an off day gets, ”Does somebody need a hug?” And of course no one can resist, “Did you HEAR that?!!” after a loud belch. (Y’know. We like to drag the humor out a bit). 

Of course we have our other staples like Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer, It’s a Wonderful Life, Miracle on 34th Street, The Muppet Christmas Carol, National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation and White Christmas. We watch other holiday shows and movies too, (and quote from them as well), but these are the definite repeats in our house.

What Christmas shows do you like to settle in to watch that get you into the holiday spirit? (and spill it if you’re line-quoters too).

Thanksgiving is just around the corner and for most people, officially marks the beginning of the holiday season (although our neighbors already put up their Christmas lights last weekend. Brother.). I know Thanksgiving means different things to different people, and that we all have our own favorite ways to celebrate.

For example, some people spend time serving Thanksgiving dinners at shelters or helping out in the community; others participate in an annual sporting event; some spend the day cooking for their family and friends; and others spend the day traveling from one home to another visiting and (probably) eating. Sometimes the meal is exactly the same from year to year, and other times, the menu changes.

Families and friends join hands, pray and give thanks before the meal; they toast; they laugh, argue and reminisce. They watch football or a favorite movie. They play video games. They eat too much. Some folks take a walk, hike or swim as part of their Thanksgiving day celebration. Some spend a quiet day reading or meditating.

The list goes on.

Traditions certainly play a large part in the celebration festivities during this time, and while I like to honor the established traditions, I also think it’s fun to start new ones. 

What are the special ways that you celebrate Thanksgiving?

Looking for a great way to enjoy a few hours of entertainment this weekend? Well if you are in the St. Louis area, I would recommend you make plans to attend Spotlight Theatre’s final show in its cabaret series. Here’s the info:

LOVE SONGS FROM AMERICAN MUSCIAL THEATRE

Starring Pamela Reckamp & John Flack

November 20-23, 2008

Kranzberg Arts Center Studio

Enjoy music from Oklahoma!, South Pacific, A New Brain, Baby, West Side Story, I Do! I Do! and much more. Musical direction by Al Fischer.

Performances are at 8:00 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday, and at 2:00 p.m. on Sunday. All shows at the Kranzberg Arts Center Studio, located at 501 N. Grand, at the corner of Grand and Olive.

Tickets are $20 and are going fast. They can be purchased in advance through the Web site, which will also get you a reserved table, right up near the action. A full bar and snacks are available through With Love Catering, and service is offered throughout the show!

It promises to be a great night of entertainment. I should know. Pam is my sister, and I’ve been listening to that kid sing and perform since we were babies, and she is good! (ok, so she’s not technically a ‘kid’ anymore, but you know what I mean).

Last weekend, Don and I took the kids to Eckert’s Orchard in Belleville, Illinois for some apple picking family fun. It was a stunningly beautiful morning that day, with full sun, blue skies and warm temperatures. I think we could have stayed there all day. I haven’t been apple picking in years, so I was really looking forward to the whole experience. I was the designated photographer for the day, so here’s the fam, minus me (Don, Parker, Madeline and Elyse).

To get started, we were directed to a short line, given our picking bags and told that if we filled the bags, we would have about 18 pounds of apples. Eighteen pounds! What the heck would we do with 18 pounds? Good info to know though, so we all agreed to exercise a little bit of restraint and NOT fill ALL of the five bags we were given. Bags in hand, we waited for about two minutes for the tractor thingy to fetch us, and then climbed aboard for the short ride to a specific portion of the orchard. On that particular day, we were picking Golden Delicious apples from four rows as instructed by the older Eckert’s welcome lady, who was chomping on one as we were clamoring to get off the tractor.

We settled on our row and started exploring all of the trees, walking quickly by the first several since we figured everyone who gets off of the tractors with little tykes in tow, go immediately to those easy-to-access trees. About halfway up the row, we all began our searches for the perfect Golden Delicious-es.

Eventually though, we succumbed to the curiosity of how they actually tasted when plucked right from the limbs. I’m telling you, if you haven’t picked an apple, fresh off of the tree in a while, go do it. I’m not even that huge of an apple fan, and my apple of choice is Fuji (which weren’t available to pick until Oct. 11!), but these were so crunchy, juicy and sweet, I couldn’t believe it. We all had to sample the apple-y goodness. I ate two. Right while we were standing in the orchard (as most people do). They were deelish!

Once we agreed we were ready head back, we waited for the next tractor outta there and had a lovely ride through another part of the orchard. We wound up with about 12 pounds of apples — still a lot to consume — and picked up a few extra pumpkins (there’s a pumpkin patch section there also) for the porch. What a great way to spend a few hours together!

For those of you in the St. Louis area, I wanted to let you know about a wonderful opportunity to experience a cabaret show. Spotlight Theatre is sponsoring a cabaret series of three shows, with the first one beginning this weekend. (I’m kicking myself for not posting this earlier, but hey, there are still two more performances of the first show).

Here’s the rundown:
Songs of Kander & Ebb, featuring Tim Schall with Joe Dreyer, Friday, September 19 at 8 p.m. and Sunday, Sept. 21 at 2 p.m. at the Kranzberg Arts Center (501 N. Grand Blvd, St. Louis, MO 63103). For tickets call 314-412-6848 or e-mail spotlighttheatre@earthlink.net.

The additional shows are coming up in October, including Dean Christopher: Got G-A-S?  Great American Songbook, accompanied by Carolbeth True, and in November you can check out my sister, Pamela Reckamp, & John Flack, accompanied by Al Fischer, performing Love Songs from American Musical Theatre.

If you’ve not attended a cabaret performance, you are in for a treat. The intimate setting of the shows, the storytelling of the performers and the experience of listening to the live music make for a memorable evening out, and you’ll likely learn a thing or two before all is said and done.

More information is available here. Check it out.

Here’s a picture of Parker on his first day of school last Monday. Such a handsome guy! His mom, Cindi, was able to send me the picture. Thanks, Cindi! Because he lives with her and his stepdad, Sean, one week and then us on alternating weeks, he goes to the school near where she lives rather than to school with the girls, which is why he started at a different time - different school district. He’s a sophomore this year, and continues to be heavily involved with hockey. The amount of practices and games that boy attends is mindboggling. For such a high contact sport though, he’s one of the sweetest and gentlest young men I know. The girls and I love having and hearing his male perspective on life and the teen issues we discuss at the dinner table, and he’s really just a pleasure to be around. Thankfully both he and the girls still like hanging out with Don and I (once in a while ), so we have many opportunities to hear what they have to say. We’re looking forward to seeing what this year brings for all of them.

I’ve also mentioned Don’s older son, Adam, in previous entries, but I don’t have any recent photos of him I can post. He’s with the Army National Guard and was deployed to Iraq in February. We just found out a few weeks ago that his tour will be up in February 2009, and needless to say, we’re thrilled he’ll be home soon.  He’s scheduled for a short leave here October so I’m hoping to get a few shots with him and the kids at that time too.

Wow. Where did the summer go? It wasn’t that many posts ago that I mentioned the kids were finishing up school, and here are the girls on their first day back to high school! Elyse is a freshman and Madeline is a senior, so this is a banner year for both of them. So cool that they have a newspaper class together (Madeline is the Editor-in-Chief). I’m hoping they will cherish the time as best they know how because it’s likely they won’t be in school together anymore after this because Madeline will be heading off to college this time next year.

My sister and I are two years apart, and if memory serves, we shared one class in high school (Pam, correct me if I’m wrong). But we actually also attended the same college, and had several classes together there. I truly enjoyed the experience of having her with me at school during those years. Good times.

Parker doesn’t start for another two weeks, so I’ll try to get a picture of him on his first day of his sophomore year of high school. Hard to believe by the time he finishes, he’ll be a full-fledged driver!

Did anyone else’s summer fly by as quickly? I mean, I know it’s not the END of summer, but the beginning of the school year in mid-August kinda puts a damper on the whole end-of-summer-fun notion, doesn’t it?