Welcome Home, Rosie!

Meet Rosie, the precious puppy who joined our family Sunday afternoon.

We had been in the market for a puppy for a while now and we finally found the one we wanted from a breeder near Austin.

She's a 16 week old female Yorkshire Terrier. I actually grew up with a Yorkie so I was more than excited to have another one in my life. Rosie is John's first dog and she's really captured his heart.  

Rosie is still a little timid but we're starting to see more and more of her personality every day. Just today she started playing with us and is less afraid of loud noises. She's also teaching us that she likes to be cuddled and loved, responds well to praise and does not like to walk in wet grass.

More blog posts and pictures to come soon. And, if you're in Waco, come meet Rosie!

Toy Story 3

What's the deal:  Remember when the first Toy Story came out?  Animated films before Toy Story weren't done on computers, and Tim Allen was still sort of an actual celebrity.  It seemed, initially, that Toy Story's defining characteristic was that new kind of crazy computer animation.  Who would have thought that the studio behind Toy Story would become an absolute behemoth and every single movie they make would make a gazillion dollars and be loved by everyone?  They come out with one movie every year, usually in the summer, which is warmly received by audiences and critics.  The films consistently balance really good, light comedy with emotional, often heavy, dramatic material. 

Toy Story 3 is no exception.  The main characters are the same ones that have made the other Toy Story movies great...Woody, Buzz, Slinky Dog, Piggy Bank, The T-Rex, The Potato-Heads, etc.  When the story picks up, Andy (the toys' owner) is going off to college and the toys are worried about what's going to happen to them.  Are they going to the attic?  To the trash?  To college?  Are they getting "donated?"  Will they stay together or be split apart?  The toys inadvertently get donated to Sunnyside Day Care, which is ruled with an iron fist by a seemingly lovable teddy bear named Lotso.

                                         

However, Woody, Buzz and the gang quickly realize that Lotso runs Sunnyside like a prison.  He keeps the new toys in cages at night, and during the day they are forced to be played with by the reckless, dangerous toddlers instead of the kids for whom they are "age appropriate."  The toys then hatch an escape scheme and much of the movie is devoted to this intricately planned escape.  It's really entertaining and actually pretty suspenseful in a lot of places.

Once the toys are out, they have to find their way back to Andy's house and more adventures ensue. 

What I like:

1.  References to other movies:  Especially prison movies.  Pay special attention to shout-outs to Cool Hand Luke (the box), Escape from Alcatraz and The Great Escape.  Also the first Mission Impossible is parodied briefly. 

2.  It's just plain funny.  In typical Pixar fashion, the movie contains a lot of laughs.  Often they are quick, subtle oddities happening among a thousand other things.  I'm thinking of when the toys are getting rambunctiously played with by the toddlers.  It's a rapid little montage of toddler after toddler abusing toy after toy.  The scene is very busy, but contains a lot of laughs.  The Barbie/Ken love story created some good laughs, too.

3.  It strikes the perfect emotional chord.  Also in typical Pixar fashion, the movie tugs on the ole heart strings.  It's not as emotional as "Up," (Melissa didn't cry quite as much...that's how I know) but Toy Story 3 does involve the characters saying several long, teary goodbyes.  It's clear that the moviemakers' objective was to force the audience members to think nostogically about the playful times of their own childhoods also to be a little bit sad that it's just not that simple any more.  It worked.

4.  It's actually a good sequel.  Sequels are usually pretty lame and seem thrown together at the last minute so the studio can release "something" and milk audiences who enjoyed the first installment of whatever out of a little more cash.  But this one is good.  I liked that. 

What I didn't like:

1.  It's a cartoon, but it's kind of heavy for kids.  I don't know why I feel the need to put this in here, because I don't think a single reader of this blog has a child at an age where they need to censor what he or she is seeing in the movies.  And even if they did, I hope they wouldn't turn to me as a final answer to that predicament.  (I mean, I recommended a movie called Zombieland).  But for some reason, because Toy Story 3 is a cartoon, I found myself thinking "wow, that was kind of a scary image for a little kid."

2.  The 3D.  I'm just pretty resistant to this whole fad altogether (at least I hope it's just a fad).  The glasses make me kind of nauseated (or is it nauseous?? what's the proper usage of those words?) and I just don't think it adds all that much to the moviegoing experience.  Except that it costs more.  hmph. 

The American Way

I spent most of last week in our nation's capital. The purpose of the trip was for a conference at the Council of Foundations, but I also managed to sneak in a couple of excursions and activities along the way. I quickly remembered how awesome Washinton D.C.  the disctrict (what all the locals refer to it as) is and my visit refueled my patriotism. The fact that next week is the Fourth of July, one of my favorite holidays, probably helps too.

Anyhow, upon landing in DC, I threw my stuff down in my hotel room, caught the shuttle to the metro and the metro to the National Mall. I then did the most American thing I could think to do next. I ordered a hot dog and a coke and sat on the lawn of the Smithsonian overlooking the Capitol and the Washington Monument. It was glorious.

I was able to spend a few hours in any of the museums that were open late and free. This included quick tours/walk-throughs of the National Museum of American History and the Natural History Museum. Both were fantastic. I spent the rest of the time walking from one end of the mall to the other and taking in all the different sites. By the end, I realized the perfect ending to my time on the mall was a nice, tall glass of freshly squeezed lemonade, which I drank while trying to figure out how to get back to the Metro. Pure Americana.

(Of course I didn't take this picture. This one is way better than the one I took, which basically didn't include the top 30% of the monument.)

As I got back to the hotel room, I realized I was starving and looked to see what my dining options were. Chipotle, no. Chili's, no. McDonald's, absolutley not. (I haven't eaten there since 1998 thankyouverymuch.) What I was craving was something different, something that would allow me to taste the true culture of America.

What I found was Kabob Palace, a lovely Afghan restaurant where I devoured a chicken kabob, garbanzo beans, spinach and some delicious bread. The waitstaff was extremely sweet, generous and helped me order off the menu. This was my first Afghan dining experience and I look forward to many more.

Next day I sat in a conference with staff from about 60 community foundations across the nation. What we learned was significant but following the session, I went with my new friends to a sushi place near by. Now I typically stick with California rolls or Vegetable rolls at sushi restaurants but I figured being so cultured from my Afghan dinner, I should try a real sushi dinner. So I ordered spicy salmon and tuna rolls, which were great but I even tried fresh salmon, courtesy of said new friends. Not too bad, but definitely not ordering it in Waco anytime soon.

I spent all of Thursday again in an all-day conference but agreed to go to dinner with some of my "new friends" that evening. None of us had ever tried Ethiopian food so I went along to Hrararsomethingorother. Clearly if I can handle Afghan and Japanese food, I can do Ethiopian fare. (Insert John's joke: "I didn't know Ethiopians had food to eat.")

The food was great, the company was better but more than anything, I left DC this afternoon realizing just how many unique cultures there are to appreciate in our country and how unaware I am of most of them. So next time you're feeling adventurous, check out a random Afghan, Japanese or Ethiopian restaurant.

And, if you haven't been to DC in a long time, go the next chance you get! It is always makes me realize how truly blessed I am to be from the USA and more mindful of how far we've come and how much we've overcame  in the past 254 years.

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to our wonderful Dads!

The one and only Dr.David Hardage!

The Fabulous Mr. Mike Newman!

Father/Daughter dance

Hardage men

Why does John look so scared?

I promise to stop using our wedding pictures after our first anniversary...they just happen to be the easiest ones to find...

We loved getting to spend time with my Dad earlier this weekend in Fort Worth and are headed over to the Big Hardages later today to eat dinner and celebrate with David!

Our dads have set a wonderful example of how to be loving, discerning, loyal and Christ-centered family-oriented men. We love you!

The Birthday Apples

Yesterday my great grandmother, henceforth known as Mammaw, celebrated her 92nd birthday!

Isn't she adorable?

And today, Mammaw's daughter, and my grandmother, henceforth known as Nana, celebrates her birthday.

She would be appaled if I revealed her true age. Isn't she just beautiful though?! Doesn't look a day over 25, right?...

I call these ladies (and my mom and Megan) the apples. It was only a few summers ago that I finally understood the saying, "The apple doesn't fall far from the tree."

We are all, in fact, a LOT alike.

 We've celebrated just about every birthday, holiday and special occasion together.

Some of my favorite memories with Mammaw include:

Going to lunch at her house for fried chicken, fried apricot pies, homemade rolls and iced tea

Playing Skip-Bo all afternoon

Playing with Crybaby, the doll that she let me have when I went to her house

Taking her to Luby's or Cracker Barrel for lunch

Some of my favorite memories with Nana include:Spending the night at her house. (She'd always make me a pallet on the floor next to her bed!)

Going Easter dress shopping (why did we stop doing that?!)

Going to museums, plays, vacations and all sorts of fun.

Having afternoon tea parties.

Playing SkipBo and Skit-Skat all afternoon.

Swimming at her house and playing, "Let's take a trip to China" and take the raft from the shallow-end of the pool to the deep-end and Nana tell me fun stories about her travels.

Watching her plant all sorts of beautiful flowers in her yard.

Teaching me about etiquette, how to be a good hostess and how to decorate for a party.

(Things every girl needs to know!)

Happy Birthday, Nana and Mammaw! Can't wait to celebrate with you this weekend!

No One Mourns the Wicked...

For my birthday, John got us tickets to see the musical, Wicked,  in Dallas. For this weekend. I can.not.wait. It's one of my favorite musicals and in honor of the upcoming occasion, I'm only listening to my Wicked soundtrack in the car and at work for the next several days.

I know you're going to ask, "Melissa, what's your favorite song?"

Defying Gravity. Hands down. But only when singing it with Courtney at the tops of our lungs. We really should have considered a career on Broadway.

Expect a full review next week!

Crazy Heart

What's the Deal:  Jeff Bridges plays "Bad Blake," a washed up, has-been, alcoholic country music singer who lives paycheck to small paycheck by playing in venues like Bowling Alleys and run-down honky tonks.  He's depressed and performs drunk.  Very drunk.  Like has-to-leave-during-the-middle-of-the-set-to-vomit drunk. 

We also find out that Blake's former band member Tommy Sweet (played by a surprisingly un-annoying and un-accented Colin Farrell) has "made it big" and is a huge Country Music Star.  Blake is somewhat jealous of Sweet's success, but also bitter at Sweet's apparent lack of gratitude to Blake for Blake giving him his start. 

While performing in Santa Fe, NM, he meets a reporter (Maggie Gyllenhaal) for an interview.  He falls for her and they begin dating.  Bad Blake's wrestling with this relationship, his alcoholism, his jealousy of Tommy Sweet, and his need for money make up the balance of the movie.  It is a really powerful story with great music, great images, a great story, and some really tense moments.  I highly recommend it. 

What I like:

1.  Soundtrack:   I like Country Music, so its no surprise that I found this soundtrack great.  I liked the songs that Bad Blake plays, and intend to download them shortly.  But what I really enjoyed were the backgrounds songs played during various montages and things.  Two of them, "If I needed you" by Townes van Zandt and "Live Forever" Billy Joe Shaver are fabulous songs that I have loved for many years.  It was especially cool to hear them in this movie. 

(Trivia... The lyrics of "Live Forever" are quoted by Robert Duvall in the movie, who has a small supporting role.  "Live Forever" was written by an old rough-around-the-edges singer named Billy Joe Shaver.  Mr. Shaver was accused last year of shooting a man in a bar here in the Waco area.  At his recent trial, Robert Duvall came to town to testify on Mr. Shaver's behalf as a character witness.  Mr. Shaver was subsequently acquitted, in part because no Waco jury is going to disobey Gus from Lonesome Dove.)

Billy Joe Shaver

2.  Jeff Bridges.  A lot has been made of his performance (he won the Best Actor Oscar and a bunch of other awards).  It's all well-deserved.

3.  The imagery.  The movie just looks great.  It's shot mostly in the Southwest, which is cool.  But what I really mean here is the way the early "Bad Blake" is portrayed.  When he's dirty and sweaty and drunk or hung over, he looks terrible.  You can almost smell him through the screen. 

4.  It's actually pretty powerful.  Melissa cried.  Just saying. 

What I didn't:

1.  It's a whole lot like Tender mercies. Let's analyze the plot of Crazy Heart compared to the plot of the previously reviewed Tender Mercies with Robert Duvall.

Alcoholic, Washed up Country Music Singer?  check.
Meets a young woman?  check
The woman has just come out of a bad relationship / marriage?  Check
He Falls in love with her?  Check
She has a son he also likes and takes under his wing?  Check
She forces him to wake up and quit drinking?  Check
He tries to revitalize his career?  Check
The Record companies are resistant?  Check
He reconnects with a child from a previous marriage?  Check
All of these occurrences allow him to write a wonderful new hit song that he couldn't have written otherwise?  Check. 

Now, none of this is all that bad.  Tender Mercies is a good movie.  And I happen to have watched it pretty recently, so these similarities are probably more apparent to me right now than they would be otherwise.  It's just something I noticed.

Unwanted

It seems that we are the only ones with a bird feeder in our neighborhood. For the majority of each day, there are anywhere from 10-15 little birds feeding in our front yard. We're going through birdseed pretty fast, but I love seeing the little ones eat and fly away. Some have even taken to building a nest on our back porch.

However, we have developed a dislike for a certain bird that causes the little ones to scurry away. This bird, is the morning dove. (Yes, I looked up the exact kind in our "Birds of Texas Field Guide.")

Yes, yes, the morning dove is lovely. She's a beautiful bird and has a soft "cooing" call. But, what I did not know that doves are clumsy, rude and ignorant.

Although not apparent in the above picture, doves are 3-4 times bigger than the little sparrows and songbirds that typically utilize the birdhouse. Not realizing their size, they still try to land on the birdhouse and feed from it. This usually results in the birdhouse swinging back and forth, knocking seed to the ground and the dove hitting our window. In the meantime, the little songbirds have taken flight and the stupid dove usually ends up looking confused and far from graceful.

Is it dove hunting season yet?!