Upside Down Cats

I'm baaaaack for day 26 of National Blog Posting Month!

The subject of being reunited is on my mind today. This is a topic I've wanted to address all month long. As NaBloPoMo draws to its end, I'm glad I've been inspired before my opportunity to include this subject in my collection of posts about things for which I am thankful had passed.

Why am I thinking that I am thankful for being reunited today?

Continue reading "...And It Feels So Good" »

Twenty-one days of NaBloPoMo...I am curious to find out if I will fulfill my promise to write about things for which I'm thankful every day throughout November.

I guess there's only one way to find out...

Continue reading "Curious Gina" »

"You finally figured out the girl in your heart isn't the girl in your dreams. Some people don't figure it out all their lives."

This is a quote from the movie, If Lucy Fell, written by Eric Schaeffer and Tony Spiridakis.

 

When I read this, I was immediately reminded of the times when I've realized that I'm not - strictly speaking - Scott's type. When he's mentioned the girls and women he thought were attractive in his formative and "pre-me" years, I am always struck by the fact that I don't resemble any of them in any way...Christie Brinkley, Raquel Welch, Cheryl Ladd or Judy Landers...

(sigh...)


It seems to me there are two possible reasons for the fact that he wound up with a girl who looks nothing like his fantasy girls...One, his tastes have changed - a lot.




Or, two, he is in love with something in addition to my physical appearance, which makes me perfectly suited for him. Like the quote from the movie...I'm the girl in his heart.



 



 

 

 

Of course, I choose to believe the latter is true.



Continue reading "Gina's Quote Du Jour (Schaeffer & Spiridakis)" »

This morning we went to eat pancakes with our friends Maureen, Chris, and Nina, along with thousands of our fellow townsfolk. We attended the 56th annual Pancake Day in Park Forest, which is sponsored by the Kiwanis Club. We try to go every year, and I think in the 13 years we've lived here, we've only missed one.

It seems the whole town comes out on an early Autumn Saturday each year to enjoy pancakes, sausage links and coffee under a huge circus tent, erected in the downtown square. The weather this year couldn't have been more perfect...slightly crisp and sunny!



This is not your ordinary pancake breakfast...this one features the famous Pank-a-Tron, an amazing piece of pancake making and distributing machinery! I think you'll be as amazed as we still are to see the Pank-a-Tron in action...

It's breakfast and a show!

Back on August 27, I quoted William Goldman, author of The Princess Bride, in my post titled, Gina's Quote Du Jour. Just yesterday, my husband, Scott, referred me to an excellent post he'd discovered, titled, 10 Life Lessons from The Princess Bride on Ray Basile's blog, One Man's Highway.

I want to bring Ray's insightful take on this outstanding film to my readers' attention. It encapsulates the very essence of the movie in a clever and thoughtful way. As I mentioned last month, The Princess Bride is one of my very favorite movies. It is a charming medley of fantasy, comedy, adventure and romance...what's not to love?

Ray's entire blog is awesome...I find his philosophical insights inspiring! He seems like a man of many talents and passions...very interesting reading there!

Saturday night we were thrilled to catch the movie Stranger Than Fiction on cable. It is one that we put on our "want to see" list as soon as we heard about it. There are very few films we feel warrant the effort and inconvenience to bother seeing in the movie theater. Generally we only go to the theater for the benefit of the "big screen effect." When we do go to the theater, more times than not, we end up walking back to the car afterwards talking not about the movie, but about the annoying people in the theater, or the disgusting fact that we just paid $8 each to sit through a half hour of commercials before the movie!...So with few exceptions we wait for movies we want to see to show up on one of the movie channels. Besides, our chairs are far more comfortable, and our popcorn is much tastier!

Stranger Than Fiction is one of those quality movies that pleasantly surprised me by being even better than I anticipated! I don't ruin movies for others by giving away too much information about them, so even if you haven't seen it, feel free to keep reading...no spoilers here!

Continue reading "It's A Fact...Stranger Than Fiction Is Great!" »

“Words make you think a thought. Music makes you feel a feeling. A song makes you feel a thought.” - E. Y. (Yip) Harburg, lyricist of ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow’

Recently I was reading Malvina Reynolds' daughter, Nancy Schimmel's blog, Writing Malvina and I discovered this quote. It struck me as the perfect answer to a question Scott and I often ponder and discuss, "Are song lyrics poetry? Can they stand alone and convey the same meaning as they do when accompanied by their music?"

Our consensus was (usually) that although lyrics often can stand up to analysis in much the same way as a poem, there is some indefinable difference between the two.

I think this quote colorfully illustrates why, as far as a song is concerned, in order to convey the entire experience, the words and music are inseparable.

There are songs that just get me...something about the melody or the beat...Some are irrefutably great songs, and some may slide into the "guilty pleasure" category, but they get my head a-swayin, my feet a-tappin' or my hips a-swingin' every time I hear them...

Consider this the antithesis to my Songs That Make Ya Wanna...Slit Your Wrists category. These songs touch my soul! I will start the list now, but it is just the first of many...

Continue reading "Life Is Good Songs (Vol. 1)" »

Recently I wrote about how we love to go to concerts...well, specifically I wrote about Allman Brothers concerts. I have had sublime experiences at concerts...and some nightmarish ones. It is never the performance...they never disappoint. So, what factors could possibly vary from show to show that can make or break my enjoyment? Hmmmmmm...

Continue reading "I Wanted To Kick Him In The Crotch Every Time!" »

Last Wednesday night we went to another Allman Brothers Band concert. Scott and I have been going to see these guys perform for 14 years...They rock! We have honestly lost count of the number of times we have seen them in concert, but we're pretty sure it is right around fifty - no kidding! In March each year the band does an extended run of concerts (like 13 over the course of 3 weeks!) at the Beacon Theater in New York City, and from 2001 to 2006 we were lucky enough to attend from four to six shows each year. They add up quickly when you "gorge" like that! We've seen them twice at Red Rocks Amphitheater in Morrison, Colorado (aka Heaven on Earth) and in various venues here in the Chicago area. Why, you may ask, would anyone want to see the same band perform over and over and over...Well, hopefully by the time you have read what I have to say you will understand...

Continue reading "Why Fifty Times Is Not Enough" »