Month: March 2013

Movie Monday – Argo

Not my usual movie fare, Argo was quite good. Not really a surprise to anyone I’m sure; the critics all raved about it. The film is a dramatization of a secret mission in 1980 to rescue six Americans hiding in Iran during a revolutionary period. The suspense and tension were well executed; I actually bit one of my nails off while watching. LOL It’s not something I’d watch over and over but it was good and worth watching if you like drama.

Most of our lives aren’t that exciting, but the drama is still going on in the small details.
~ David Byrne

New Boots: LOVE

Back in January we went for a nature stroll in a nearby park and I found that I was sorely lacking a pair of ~~shoes~~ boots for trudging through wet or muddy ground. It was quite wet from winter rains back then and Don had to carry me through some areas because I wore my favorite walking shoes, my Minimus New Balance shoes. They were not the right tool for that adventure.

Enter the Ahnu Montara.

I found these babies at Cabela’s in Texas during our week-long vacation in February. I have only had the chance (since the weather is warming up now) to wear them a few times but I am so in LOVE.

They have Vibram soles and are simply the most minimal boot I’ve ever seen.

I dislike the height of many hiking shoes/boots, they are almost always just too low, hitting the bone on my ankle, which is just plain uncomfortable for me. These are the perfect height and they are not bulky around the ankle like so many traditional styles of hiking shoes or boots. They are also very lightweight. Score!

Ahnu has also created a new technology called Numentum®:

“a neutral positioning system engineered to encourage your foot’s natural biomechanics. It is designed to center and guide the foot to promote an efficient, stable and balanced stride.”

If you are a fellow minimal shoe lover and you’re on the lookout for a good pair of boots that won’t load you down and that has a strong sturdy sole, check out Ahnu. True, they were not cheap at $148 plus tax. But finding something that actually got me excited to wear on my feet (when the need arises) = priceless. Don has shoe envy now (for the first time) too; they didn’t have any styles for men or I’m sure we would have walked out with two pair. As it is, he’s still recovering from his knee surgery and not likely to do any serious hiking until cooler weather in the fall so it’s on our long-term shopping list to get him a pair, eventually. 🙂

Plus my boots were made of awesome.
~ Gwen Hayes, Let Me Call You Sweetheart

**Please note, I have not been compensated in any way for my opinion; I simply like to share my experiences of new products that wow me with others.

Ahnu In The News (ahnu.com)
A Guide To Finding The Right Hiking Boot – Part 1 (backpackingsamurai.com)

Movie Monday – Rise of the Guardians, Skyfall

It seems that Rise of the Guardians didn’t get many positive reviews but we really enjoyed it. I will admit that it was a little slow to start and some of the story was a little awkward/odd but overall it was fun. And that’s a key requisite for me. It’s sort of The Avengers meets childhood mythic heroes, which is a little weird, but also sweet. Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, the Sandman, and Jack Frost team up to defeat the Boogeyman. I know, sounds weird. But it does come together in a heartfelt story about belief, childhood innocence, and companionship. In the end, I found myself smiling and cheering for the heroes. Some may argue that the mythology behind the Guardians is sketchy, and I won’t disagree, but for the sake of the fun I’m willing to overlook it. Oh, and the animation is outstanding. So that helps too.

I’m not sure what I was hoping to get from watching Skyfall. Clearly, it was made for fans of the Bond franchise; lots of little things sprinkled through the film that I’m sure would excite the interest of die-hard Bond fans. But all that just missed the mark for us. I couldn’t help thinking, I’d rather be watching Archer. (Season 3 on Netflix, Baby!) LOL There were some good action sequences and some eye-catching film effects in Skyfall but other than that, it was simply a mediocre action film by my tastes. (Call me not-so-sophisticated. I don’t mind.) 🙂

“Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living, it’s a way of looking at life through the wrong end of a telescope.”
~ Dr. Seuss

Rise of the Guardians DVD {Giveaway} (5minutesformom.com)
Rise of the Guardians Blu-ray DVD Review (mommyfactor.net)
‘Skyfall’ critics highlight 62 movie errors in fun viral video (entertainment.nbcnews.com)
Movie Review – Skyfall (fernbyfilms.com)

Sleeping Kitties

Ahh, to be a cat.

Milo left, Olli right.

To lay wherever one pleases in epic comfort.

What?

To know that whatever you do, it will be deemed adorable and you will be worshiped.

You may place your offering at my feet human.

Don’t block my sun!

Totally, out.

Poor Olli, he’s actually not feeling too well today. We suspect a urinary tract infection. The vet has prescribed no food for 24 hours (the horror!) and antibiotics for 7 days. Hopefully he’ll be his old self soon.

A cat pours his body on the floor like water. It is restful just to see him.
~ William Lyon Phelps

Watch Grumpy Cat Hate Adoring SXSW Fans (mashable.com)
Roman Cats (lenadealmeida.wordpress.com)
Cat-in-a-box (lizabethlacey.wordpress.com)
Portraits of Africa: Cats (janeluriephotography.wordpress.com)

My First Green Juice

I made my first veggie drink with the juicer this last weekend. It was…different. Very leafy tasting. Like a liquid salad. Not bad but not stand-up-and-get-excited good either. Just very different. I had no idea what to expect so I can’t say that it didn’t meet my expectations. It was just a new experience all the way around.

I reduced this recipe to try to make a one serving portion for me to try out.

Ingredients:

one apple
two stalks of celery
six kale leaves
2 swiss chard leaves
a handful of parsley
half a lemon
a chunk of cucumber
and a small piece of ginger

The juicer performed well. It jammed up once, just a little on the greens. I think it was the overabundance of parsley and I think I was pushing it too fast. It’s a masticating juicer so it runs slower (and quieter) than the ones that sound like aircraft taking off.

Luckily, it also has a reverse button which worked wonders for eliminating the jam.

I got about 20 ounces of juice out of it all.

It seemed like a little more than I was going for. I wasn’t sure I would drink it all but I did. (It could have kept in the fridge for up to 72 hours, at least until the next day, but I decided to go for it instead.)

I’m not sure what I think about the whole process. I’m not keen on the ratio of food to juice. It’s a lot of freaking food for not very much juice in my book. And, as one of the cautions I’ve read about juicing, it didn’t really fill me up or make me feel like I’d had lunch. I managed until dinner but it definitively isn’t as filling as our green smoothies.

I think more experimenting must be done.

The important thing is not to stop questioning.
~ Albert Einstein