A year without my husband & I'm craving wonderful romances. The movie genre, that is. Netflix gives me such a great selection to choose from, but the problem is...I've run out of ideas! Do help me out. What are some of your very favorite romantic movies? Help this lonely wife add to her Netflix Queue!
{The wonderful Pride & Prejudice, Roman Holiday & Australia. Some of my favorite romances!}
Next Day Update:Thank you all SO MUCH for your wonderful wonderful suggestions! My Netflix Queue is looking oh so romantic now, thanks to all of you sweeties! I can't wait to see the movies I haven't seen before! I'll be sure to post about my favorites :)
And on a nerdy note... I've had a bit of a commenting snafu the last few days. As you've probably noticed, I use IntenseDebate for my comments here on the blog & not the standard Blogger commenting form. {I like this because it allows Comment Luv, which shows your latest post title whenever you comment! So awesome!} However, the last few posts have, for whatever reason, decided to revert back & forth between the two! So half the comments are with Blogger & the other half with IntenseDebate. Basically, if you don't see your comment here, have no fear! I did receive it {& love it!}, but I haven't figured out how to show both comment types at once. I think I've fixed the problem, though, so all future comments will be with IntenseDebate. Phew! ♥
Feel like seeing a good movie this weekend? I know everyone is talking about the new Harry Potter movie, but that's not really my thing. If you're like me, then here's a suggestion for a different movie: go see Going The Distance! Okay, seeing as I just Googled this movie & read that it came out in the States in early September, well...maybe I should suggest that you go & rent this movie. Gah, I'm so behind the times over here!
A friend of mine went with me to see this last night, & we had such a great time! We didn't expect it to be nearly as good as it was! It was the perfect Saturday night out movie for two girlies without their husbands. Oh, we're Going The Distance alright!
I think this movie is especially entertaining for anyone who has had to do the long distance thing, or who is doing the long distance thing! There are a lot of us out there! *raising my hand, raising my hand!* This isn't your typical mushy gushy girlie rom-com. Instead, it's a much more realistic romance, with many added touches of hysterical laughter along the way! I think I had already laughed a dozen times by minute five!
Did you know that Drew Barrymore & Jason Long used to be together?! Off screen! ....You did? Man, I am behind the times!! Well, they sure are good together on camera!
Psst - Guess where else I went yesterday? You'll have to check back tomorrow to find out!
And also, a big thank you to all of you who have been participating in this week's Saturday Around The World blog party! It's open until Tuesday at Midnight Eastern Time, so bring it on! I'm loving your comments!!! I hope you're finding new favorites & new followers!
I woke up this morning to one of my favorite things: a thunderstorm. It made me want to pull my duvet up around me & snuggle in for a bit more sleep. But the doggies had other ideas. Layla came in & rested her head on the bed beside me, just close enough that her nose was touching my face. And Lucius, who is such a midnight wanderer that I have to put him in his kennel for bed so that he doesn't fall down the stairs {yes, it's happened}, was crying for me to come let him out. So we got up. I made a big cup of some of my favorite green tea, gave the dogs their breakfast, & started some laundry. It's going to be a cozy day here today, I think!
Now, for more on London. { You can see my other posts on this travel topic by clicking right here. } My dear, I have more pictures than I know what to do with! It's a daunting task to go through them all & pick out a few to share here with you all, but I will do it! I promised to! And now, I have the time :)
Day Three in London: My brother & I booked a country bus tour to take us to Windsor Castle, Stonehenge, & Oxford. We were really excited to get out of the city & see more of the true England. { As I started this post, I intended to cover all of day three, but I'm realizing Windsor Castle will take up a lot of space! I hope you enjoy these reviews, because it's going to be a while before I'm finished! }
Windsor Castle was our first stop, & we've both decided that this was one of our very favorite places of the entire trip. This is the largest castle in the world that is still inhabited & it is at least as old as the ages of William the Conqueror. The castle's floor covered about 480,000 square feet & I'm sure that we saw only a snippet of that! Oh, & I must say that the Queen was there at Windsor while we were touring the grounds! Yes, indeed! The flag was flying high to let us know!
The Queen is in!
We had only two hours at the Castle {which our guide agreed was ridiculously short!}, so we booked it from one place to another. First, through security. Yes, full security with metal detectors & all. Must keep the Queen safe! Then, we walked the grounds & got our bearings. We overheard that The Changing of the Guard was soon to take place, so off we went to watch! My brother took so many photos that I teased him we could make a flip book :) Here's just one!
As we'd waited for the Changing of the Guard to begin, we ducked into St. George's Chapel, which has become one of my very favorite that I've ever seen. { You can visit their official site here & even explore 360 degree virtual tours here as well as listen to the Chapel Choir & the Bells of St. George's!Or perhaps you'd like to see St. George's Chapel at Christmas. Please take a peak; it's lovely. } We did take pictures of the Chapel, but none of them really do it justice. So here is a photo from INEtours.com.
Beautiful, isn't it?
After watching the Changing of the Guard, off we went to see Queen Mary's Doll House. This doll house, built in the 1920's, is complete with working plumbing & electricity. In its beautiful little rooms you can find miniatures everything a real house would hold: working toilets & ceiling lights, carpets & musical instruments, even little wine & liqueur bottles filled appropriately! The books on the bookshelves are miniature versions of real books made by the authors themselves, just like the famous works of art on the walls. It was amazing! And huge! Here are some good photos for you! I didn't take any of these--we weren't allowed to snap any photos! So these are from Getty Images, Royal-Windsor & TravelBlog.
You may remember my mentioning the movie The Young Victoria in a previous London Travel post. I watched this movie a few weeks before visiting London, but knowing more about Queen Victoria & Prince Albert really made the visit more enjoyable. Victoria became Queen of England at the age of 18 & she was married to Prince Albert a mere three years later. Together, they had nine children. Albert passed away from typhoid while at Windsor Castle. He was only 42 years old. Queen Victoria wore black for the rest of her life, had Albert's clothes set out every morning, & always kept a setting for him at the table. They are buried together near Windsor Castle at the Frogmore Royal Mausoleum.
The story of Victoria & Albert has really stuck with me. Their love, their dedication to one another, & their strength to do the right for the country that they loved. True love & true loyalty. There can be nothing more noble, I believe. Do watch The Young Victoria. Their story will stick with you too. I got a bit teary just watching the trailer. You will love it.
Windsor Castle is a beautiful place filled with beautiful rooms & beautiful stories. I would love to go back someday & spend much longer walking the grounds & learning more of its past. How wonderful it is to visit such places; how strange to think that I may never be back again. But to see them once is far greater than to never see them at all! It's important to always make the most of your time, no matter where you are!
Why, look at that. I have new readers! Thank you, dears, for stumbling across my little blog & for deciding to stick around to see what I do next! It's lovely to have you! ♥
My brother & I had a kiddie-type afternoon yesterday & went to the on-Post movie theater to seeMarmaduke! Oh, it was so cute! As I laughed my way through the movie, I kept whispering to John, "This is my life! This Is My Life!! hahaha!" We even have the Mini Cooper! {I don't let the doggies ride in that car, though... But they would look great with their heads out the sunroof!} The movie creators' had the Great Dane mannerisms down to a t, from the way they lay on the sofa to the way they like to play to the way they act like scared little babies! It was so cute. I must confess, the movie made me a little bit teary too. The sweet family moments made me miss my family, the head of this household, my hunny. But it was sure nice to come home to my very own Marmadukes. I do think mine are even cuter ;) Oh, & I still believe that Lucius would sound just like Marmaduke {er, Owen Wilson!} if he could talk!
How true this is! The secretary at the Vet loves it when Layla sits on my lap in the waiting room. We are pretty cute!
{ Images from Marmaduke Explained & In My Community}
On another note, I'm sad to report that we were not able to find Nicholas Cage's former Bavarian castle. It's currently a private residence, so of course I couldn't find an exact address! As we drove the Mini from one little town to another, we did know the name of the castle, so that helped! We saw a sign with the castle's name on it, so up we drove onto the top of a hill that the sign pointed to, but when we reached the top, well... I saw someone peeking at us through the curtains, so we figured we'd better turn around & look for castle number two! But we knew Mr. Cage had been where we were! Oh, celebrities & their castles. I don't need a castle to feel like a Princess, though! Don does a good job of that right here, even when he's thousands of miles away :)
Happy Sunday, everyone! Enjoy your day with your families, your loved ones, your pets! Never take for granted the fact that your sweeties are right there by your side. It sure isn't easy when they have to go away for a while. ♥
Today's post is not at all what I told you it was going to be... No London photos here, only a few quick thoughts & some pretty pictures to hold you over till I find the time to really sit down & write a good London review! I've been spending my days really relaxing with my brother, going to the gym, sending boxes to Don, etc. etc. etc. It's been nice! And although I probably spent as much time writing this as I would have spent writing about London, well...whoops!
Oh no! Not another day without my London review!
Today was one of those days. For those of you who've gone through a deployment, you know what I mean. Some days, you wake up with a smile on your face & the energy to conquer the world! Other days, you wake up to see the emptiness in your bed & your day just seems to continue on that way. The emptiness in your house, the emptiness during your drives in the car, the emptiness on the sofa, the emptiness in the kitchen & at the dinner table... You can't put your finger on just what causes this loneliness except that, well, your husband is thousands of miles away fighting in a war. Yes, that is reason enough to cause these feelings...
Oh, I'm awfully sick of this deployment thing...
Thank goodness that my brother is here to keep me company! We've been making yummy dinners {or going out for them!}, watching funny movies & TV shows, reading, & lounging with Layla & Lucius! And oh, hooray for technology that allows Don & I to be able to talk almost every day, even for just a few moments.
So, since many of you dearies commented on my last post about the new Twilight movie, *sigh*, I feel I must give a little review! To be short & sweet, I'm not wild about these movies. To me, they're a dumbed-down & cheaply made version of the books...complete with bad acting. I don't know what it was about this one, though, because I didn't think it was too bad! The quality seemed better, & the acting wasn't as cheesy! Now, it was still a Twilight movie, don't get me wrong. But something about Eclipse made me want to *gasp* re-read the books! Comments, anyone?! And as a side note...oh my goodness, could Carlisle's hair be any more blonde?!
Tomorrow is Tuesday--Travel Tuesday! So I will have to start my London reviews then! C'mon, Amanda!
Bare with me, my lovely readers. I have so many photos from my trip to London, Salzburg, & Munich that I need some serious time to organize them all before I can decide which ones to share with you! Tomorrow, I'm hoping to really start my London reviews!
We're enjoying some very nice, cool & rainy weather here in Bavaria. It's a much welcomed break from the 90 degree temps & no air conditioning! Phew! Plus, my lawn is loving it too!
Tonight, my brother & I are {somewhat shamefully} going to see the new Twilight movie. I read all the books before there was even a whisper to the public about the movies, so I'm a bit prejudiced. Have you read the books? Seen the movies? What do you think? ...Me? The books are way better. An easy & somewhat ridiculous storyline meant simply to entertain! An easy beach read! All this chaotic hype & craziness surrounding the actors is insane... Wow! I don't really feel that the movies are that good, but it is fun to watch them... I guess all teenage girls have to be obsessed with something?! Team Jacob! *oh boy*
Welcome, my fabulous new readers! And hello again, my fabulous old pros! Thank you all for your comments; they call make me smile! Question: are the photos in this post Too Big?! Do tell! I don't want to overwhelm!
I'm taking a little break from my daily Italy travel posts{just one day...don't worry!} to do something a bit more simple. Less writing, more pictures! I always like it when I show up to one of my favorite blogs to find pretty pictures! Do they brighten your day too?!
Ok, the Festival wasn't quite like this...but the costumes were quite similar! And there were horses!
I spent the afternoon with new friends, enjoying a nearby town's 600th Anniversary celebration in the form of a Medieval Festival! Yes, you heard me! Complete with knights & jesters, kings & queens, peasants & lepers! Fake lepers, of course! We had quite a time shouting the German cheers along with the crowd {still not sure what we were saying!} & eating crepes with fresh strawberries! Mmm! I also had one of my favorite German drinks: the radler. Now, trust me...this is good. It's light beer mixed with lemon flavored mineral water or Sprite. So refreshing! Mix one for yourself if you're interested! You'll thank me :) And I'll post pictures of this unique festivity later in the week!
Do you like Jane Austen? Period piece movies? Do yourself a favor & rent this gem!
Tonight, I'm watching the romantic girlie movieBright Star, about the three year romance between the famous 19th century poet John Keats & Fanny Brawne, while painting my fingers & toes. Light pink with sparkles. {OPI's "Make Love" with "Princesses Rule" on top} What a simple way to brighten my world...
Any other OPI lovers out there?!
Oh, along with the fact that Don & I were able to talk again tonight! Even though it was just chatting, no voice or video, it's still so reassuring to communicate with him. It makes it feel like we're somehow closer together. Now, that, my dears, is what really brightens my world! ♥
And next time that I say a post will have "less writing", well, don't believe me...
Happy Monday! After a torrential downpour last night with gusty winds {which I loved! I opened the windows & let the breeze blow through the house!}, we now have clear skies! 11:15am & 66 degrees. Nice & warm, but not too hot!
I'm sure that all of you in the States have heard plenty about the new movieMarmaduke, but over here in Germany I only heard about it from my Mom! She told me that Marmaduke is no Lucius! ...Lucius is better behaved :)
When I went to the movie website to watch the trailer, I couldn't believe my eyes! Marmaduke rides in a Mini Cooper! We have a Mini Cooper! ...little car, huge dog... It seems so ridiculous, that's why they must have chosen it for the movie! And yet...it's my reality! How goofy!
Now, if you want to know what Lucius would sound like if he could talk, check out the trailer! Watch for the part where Marmaduke takes a grilled cheese sandwich off the table & says, "Aah! Hot Cheese!!" Now, that's Lucius's voice, I'm sure!!
I'm an Army Wife living a very blessed life with my incredible husband & our two adopted Great Danes! I blog about our experiences, our travels, & anything else that inspires me! I hope it inspires you too ♥
