Sunday SUPER Funday

Even though my New Years wasn't super exciting, Sunday definitely made up for it. A very close family friend has a friend who knows Bryan Voltaggio (aka the older brother and second place winner of Top Chef) and got a reservation at Bryan's restaurant Volt. Volt is actually only about 20-30 minutes from where my parents live and since everyone in my family loves Top Chef our friends invited us to go with them. Apparently because of the show it is pretty hard to get reservations lately so we were very lucky. We opted to go for brunch since it is expensive and the brunch is very reasonable ($25 for 3 courses.)

We had a large group (12 people) so we sat in this super cute private dining room. The restaurant is in an old mansion and has very chic antique meets modern decor. As soon as we sat down we saw Bryan walk by and then he was outside messing with a hose in the "yard." Of course we were all acting like idiots, giggling every time we saw him so he probably thought we were insane. He seems like a shy guy (like he did on Top Chef.) He was also a lot shorter in "real life."

The food was AMAZING. The cocktails were AMAZING. The service was AMAZING. Seriously, it's probably my new favorite restaurant.

When we were done eating my mom's friend asked if Bryan wouldn't mind coming in and saying hi, so our waiter went to check and told us all to come back for a little tour. Bryan was in the kitchen making rolls and let us get a picture of the kitchen, we asked if he wanted to get in it and he seems surprised. Definitely shy but very nice...I told him we were all big Top Chef fans because I couldn't think of anything else to say!

Anyways, here are some pictures...

So this is the first time I posting pics of family/friends but I figured what the hell.

From left to right we have my sister, my mom, sister's boyfriend (R), me, my brother, my mom's friend who came instead of my dad (he had to go to a wake), K, the family who got the reservation (their kids and daughters boyfriend) and B.Volt (my new nickname for him since we are BFFs)

B.Volt making something


The kitchen as seen from the chef's dining room

My first course, goat cheese ravioli in a brown butter sauce with mushrooms and butternut squash. So yummy!

Later that evening K and I went to see "Avatar" in 3-d, which was a very cool movie. In terms of plot it is basically "Dances with Wolves" meets "Fern Gully" meets "Pocahontas" but still worth seeing. It's very exciting and visually stunning. Waaaay better then "Sherlock Holmes!"

Labor Day Movie Critic

Boy, was it hard to wake up this morning, especially given the realization that I probably won't have any days off of work until say...Thanksgiving.

My Labor Day weekend was very nice, K and I hung out on Saturday, went to a party on Sunday then pretty much hung out with my family all day on Monday.

For some reason we also saw a lot of movies, so I thought I would play movie critic, in case you are looking for a movie to watch sometime soon.

Coraline: We got this from On Demand on Friday night and since we don't have 3-D glasses laying around the house, we had to rent the regular version. That being said it is still a very entertaining movie. It reminded me a bit of the "Nightmare Before Christmas." K liked it too and he doesn't normally like cartoon movies. B+ would be my grade.

Inglourious Basterds: At first I wasn't sure what I thought about this movie, going into the theater I thought it was based on a true story so I found it a little...shocking. Once I suspended reality I liked it a lot. It has a good mix of war, humor, and actual storyline. I'll give it an A-.

Notorious: It's the story of the life of Notorious B.I.G (which was pretty short and tragic.) The beginning was good but it did get a little slow towards the end. I may have enjoyed it more if I was a big fan of hip hop. C

District 9: Definitely my favorite of the 4, it is very fast paced and holds your attention for the whole movie. It is documentary style for most of it and doesn't have any super famous actors which makes it seem like it could really be happening. Go see it while it is in theaters still! A

I also watched the whole thing of Not Without My Daughter on TV on Saturday for the first time...why does Sally Field play the same character in every movie she makes?

Yet another reason I am excited about next May

Sex and the City Sequel!!!!

(the other reason has to do with the life changes I have been mentioning...more on that still to come)

[photo from usmagazine.com]

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

My siblings and I are all huge fans of the Harry Potter books. As far as the movies go, I like them, they are entertaining but can't touch the books. Personally, I just look at them as two seperate things to keep myself from getting bogged down on all the things that are left out.

I was skeptical to see the Half-Blood Prince because my brother, who went at midnight...in costume, said it was the worst movie yet and everything important was left out. But of course, I had to go see it.

However, I was pleasantly surprised, it is a very good movie. Yes, it is very different from the book but as a separate entity I truly enjoyed it. In fact I think it is the best Harry Potter movie yet. So go see it! Even if you don't like the books I think you will like it!

And here is something else...maybe this makes me a senior citizen...but my new favorite time to go to the movies is Saturday or Sunday morning. The AMC by my house is only $5 before noon and it is much less crowded. They also have $5 breakfast deals (haven't tried that yet...it might be nasty...but you could always smuggle in your own.) I see K and I going to a lot more movies in the future because of the great deal!

Please, Please, Please don't ruin the book

Seeing this preview on TV tonight made me feel slightly better about my poor car. I absolutely love the book "The Time Traveler's Wife" and I am so excited for the movie. It looks pretty good and I think Eric Bana and Rachel McAdams were perfectly cast. However, if the movie ruins the books for me like some movies (cough..."The Other Boleyn Girl...cough) I swear I will cry for one hundred years.



PS Sorry that it is a little cut off on the side...I am not tech saavy enough to fix it.

What's Going On aka A Random Post

• I called out sick from work yesterday, my stomach was bothering me and I felt like I just needed a mental health day. It was fabulous to just lay around doing nothing all day and I feel quite refreshed!
• My parents are at the beach for a long weekend so we are watching Gryffin...he has slept over at our apartment since Wednesday and we are staying at my parent's house from tonight until Sunday so we can also keep an eye on my little brother (he is 17 so my parents are worried he will have a party or something.)
• K is almost done with his summer class (criminal law), he just has to take his final on Monday. He is planning to study a lot this weekend.
• Fingers crossed...I will be going to see "Bruno" on Saturday. I know some people hated it, but I loved "Borat" and I am very excited to check out Sasha Baron Cohen's latest venture. I hope it isn't too hard to get tickets since it comes out today! Other then that it should be a low key weekend.
• I have lost almost 10 pounds since I started "Atkins." I use the term loosely since I am doing more low carb/low sugar. When I really stuck to Atkins induction weight came off very fast but it's not a very realistic diet for long term so it's going more slowly---and I am ok with it. I have been very good during the week but it's hard not to slack off a bit on the weekends!

Happy Friday Everyone! Anyone have any cool weekend plans?

A Couple of Movies

Not only is it Monday but it is cloudy and gray here. Very depressing. I am already counting down the minutes until Friday.

Speaking of depressing...K and I went over to my parent's yesterday for a yummy corned beef and cabbage St. Patty's day dinner and we all watched "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas." I thought it was really good but very sad, K didn't really like it. It wasn't as great as I thought it would be but it is worth seeing.

On a happier note, this weekend I saw a good movie on TV that for some reason I had never seen, "Notting Hill." I remember people talking about it all the time when it came out and now I wish I has watched it sooner! I really liked it...and I am not huge romantic comedy person. I love that I can find random movies on TV and record them then fast-forward through the commericals...how did we live without DVR?

Confessions of a Shopaholic

My best friend E ended up coming up this weekend from D.C., we had a low key weekend trying to to spend much money, and it was great to see her. She has a job interview on Tuesday so hopefully that will work out well.

Before she left this afternoon we decided to go see "Confessions of a Shopaholic." I had read some of the books in the "Shopaholic" series and E loves chick flicks, so we both thought it would be cute.

It was pretty much as you would expect it would be. Cute, some laughs and cool outfits. I think I identify with the main character since she too falls into a job in finance and doesn't know what she is doing! The movie isn't going to win any awards and unless you really like girlie movies I would recommend saving your and just waiting and renting it on dvd or on demand in a few months.


***UPDATED***Speaking of On Demand...right after I posted this K and I watched "Burn After Reading." Much better then "Shopaholic!" It was very funny with a lot of plot twists and a great cast.

Trip to Boston

I'm back! The trip to Boston was great...cold...but great. It was nice to get away from work and spend some time with my mom and sister. We left as planned on Wednesday afternoon and got to Boston around midnight, the only traffic we ran into was getting out of Baltimore, it was smooth from Delaware on.

Thursday morning Mom and I walked around our hotel area in the morning then went over to meet Sissy for lunch at her college and drop off her presents. We went to the bookstore while we were waiting for her to get out of class and I was mistaken for a high school junior on a college visit. I was not sure how to take that one. If I had looked like this at 16 I probably would have been unable to look in the mirror let alone fit into my American Eagle outfits. Anyways...Sissy had another class in the afternoon so Mom and I decided to go to the movies. The theater was empty, there were 5 people total...and that includes us. We saw "Taken" which was basically "24" with Liam Neeson, it was nothing amazing but held my interest. It was the weirdest movie theater I have ever seen. Very steep and narrow and since no one was there but us for a while I took a few pictures.

I thought it looked kind of like a stairway to heaven...or maybe hell, especially with the weird red light created by the exit sign in the back.

Just wanted to prove that it was indeed a movie theater.

After the movie we met up with Sissy again and took her and her roommates out to dinner at a cute restaurant near the campus. She came back to our hotel with us so we could go out and do some Boston things the next day.

On Thursday we went downtown and wandered around the shops on Newbury Street, then we met my cousin for lunch at the Parish Cafe. If you are ever in Boston you should check it out, the menu is mostly sandwiches from the chefs of other top Boston restaurants. I had this amazing roasted pork sandwich with lime and green curry. They also make some mean cocktails. We walked off our lunch and then went to the Top Of The Hub for more drinks. It's a little pricey but you can't beat the view, especially at sunset.

The ducks from "Make Way For Ducklings"

Boston Public Garden

Cool old buildings in Beacon Hill

The Top of the Hub sign...pretty obvious

Amazing view, Sissy told us the restaurant rotated...which it didn't seem to be doing...so we asked the waitress and she told us it only does after a few drinks. I have a feeling she uses that line a lot.

This church was right below us.

Sunset over Boston.

As if we hadn't eaten enough during the day we went out to dinner with Sissy's boyfriend that night in the North End, which is basically the Boston version Little Italy. I had the best lobster ravioli of my life! Then Mom and I headed to my grandparents house where we relaxed, went out for seafood (they live in the steamed clam capital of the world) and spent time with my Nanny and Pop.

Like I said, it was a great time, and after all that food I am totally ready to get to work losing weight! Back to work tomorrow :(

He's Just Not That Into You

I had every intention of posting over the weekend...as you can see that didn't happen. K was working on a big project for school on the laptop in the office where the desktop is...and I didn't want to disturb him since I am such a wonderful girlfriend ;) My computer situation is basically this: I don't have one. Mine died an unnatural amount of times so now I use K's laptop or his desktop...I kind of want my own laptop but I don't see much point in bringing a third computer into the mix, as normally there are two I could use at any given moment.

So I had a lovely computer-free weekend doing other more social activities (fundraiser for K's law school and a surprise 50th birthday party for a family friend to name a few) and now I am back at work.

Yesterday I decided to go to the mall to get a Valentine's Day present for K and a birthday present for my sister; my mom joined me and then we went to go see "He's Just Not That Into You." I am not a huge chick flick person but this movie was really good. In fact it could hardly be called a chick flick...I think guys or girls would enjoy this movie.

Maybe I am biased because I love Ginnifer Goodwin, who played the main character Gigi (she is on "Big Love.") I didn't know that she would have a bigger part then Jennifer Aniston, who I like but I don't think she is much of an actress...so that was a pleasant surprise. I also love ensemble cast movies, when they are done well, which this definitely was. Anyways...I don't want to give anything away but go see this movie! With V-day this week it would make a good date movie or if you prefer a good girlfriend movie. Let me know what you think if you see it...I love talking about movies!