Crazy Weather, Beer Fest, and the Oscars

I'm not sure how many of you heard about the crazy weather that came to the East Coast at the end of this last week, but it was craaaazy.  We had a TON of rain, and then really crazy winds (50+ mph winds), and then SO MUCH SNOW.  The winds + snow were occurring in the late afternoon, so by rush hour everything was a mess.  It created a LOT of problems... Trees were falling on the highways, and a tree fell on a bus on one of the busiest highways around the Philly area.  It was chaos. Luckily I was working from home on Friday (I get to work from home every Wednesday, and every other Friday), so I was verrrryyyy thankful that I didn't have to try to drive in the chaos.  We lost power at our house at about 1pm though, so that was a bummer.  Luckily my work laptop was fully charged, and I was able to use my cell phone as a wifi hotspot, so I could keep working. 

Kevin's sister Mook was working kinda out near us, and she was going to drive to her parents' house or her boyfriend's house, but she saw on Google Maps that it was going to take over 2 hours to get to either place!!  So, she called Kevin and asked if she could come to our house, because that looked like only about 30 minutes away with the crazy traffic.  So Mook came over to our house on Friday evening!  Kevin didn't have too much trouble getting home, because he was able to take smaller highways that hadn't had any accidents, etc.  The three of us hung out all evening, with no power and no heat.  We were able to watch movies on laptops (they were all well-charged), and we just bundled up with layers and blankets.  We tried to get a fire going in our fireplace, but the wind was too insane and kept blowing the smoke into our house. So, unfortunately, we had to let the fire die out and just be chilly.  The power came back on at about 7:30pm, and we immediately cranked the heat and charged our phones and laptops, and I'm glad we did because we lost power again at about 9pm.  The power stayed off all thru the night until about 10am on Saturday morning, and it's been on since then!  We're very lucky, because a LOT of people are still without power.  Also, all of our trees behaved and stayed strong!  We are very relieved about that, because SO many trees fell down in our neighborhood or at least lost huge limbs.  Here are some pictures that I stole from a news channel in our area of the damage:

This is in Philly. 

This is that bus I was telling you about on the major highway (I-76). 

This is in Berwyn (where we live). 

This is Rittenhouse Square in Philly (it's a beautiful park, and it's right by where Timmy lives)

This is Wayne (the next town over from where we live). 

On Saturday the weather warmed up quite a bit so all of the snow melted, but the winds were still really crazy (only 40+ mph instead of 50+ mph though).  On Saturday afternoon we had a Beer Festival to go to.  We go every year to celebrate Michael's birthday, but we were thinking (and kinda hoping?) it'd be cancelled this year due to the crazy winds.  It's an outdoor festival that's held in tents... so that just sounded dangerous.  The Festival was still happening though, so we went, but we agreed that if it was too crazy we'd just leave. Well, we got there and the tents seemed to be pretty secure, but it was soooo muddy and gross because they had the festival on grass this year!  It's always on pavement, so we were not expecting the muddy swamp.  Also, they had sold WAY too many tickets and there just wasn't room for everyone.  They are going to be getting a STRONGLY worded email from me, that's for sure.  We ended up having fun, but it was really tough at the beginning. 

Timmy, Kevin, Me, Juliff, Michael, and Jen.

Today we've just been catching up on housework and we've also watched a few movies.  It is STILL crazy windy outside... So we're a little scared about our power, but so far so good.  We're keeping phones and laptops charged, and making sure our house is nice and warm.  If our power stays on, we will be watching the Oscars tonight!  I don't know why really, but I've always loved the Academy Awards.  I love seeing all of the dresses, and I just love seeing awesome movies celebrated. So, with that, here's my opinion on the Best Picture nominees (in alphabetical order):

1. Call Me By Your Name -  I did not enjoy this one.  It's about a 17 year old boy who has a relationship with his dad's assistant while they're in Italy.  So, Italy was beautiful, and the actor that played the kid did a great job, but if this wins Best Picture I'm throwing something at the TV.  It was an extremely slow movie, and parts of it were really weird.  I've heard that the kid (Timothee Chalamet) might win Best Actor, and he did do a GREAT job, but he doesn't get my vote because of the next movie...

2. Darkest Hour - Just watched this one today, and it is GREAT.  So amazingly good.  Gary Oldman deserves the Oscar for Best Actor FOR SURE, in my opinion.  If you haven't seen trailers for this, it's about Winston Churchill during WWII, when he's deciding whether to negotiate with Hitler or keep fighting in the war. Gary Oldman did such an amazing job, and if he doesn't win then I'm throwing something at our TV.  This one doesn't get my vote for Best Picture though...

3. Dunkirk - Amazing.  This should win for Best Cinematography for sure.  It was beautiful to watch.  It doesn't get my vote for Best Picture though, but I really loved it.  VERY enjoyable movie!

4. Get Out - I really loved this, and it blew my mind.  I'm so happy it's nominated for Best Picture, and I almost hope it wins, but I really don't think it will win.  Really great movie though, and it kept me thinking about it for a LONG time.  I'm gonna pull for Jordan Peele to win Best Director!!

5. Lady Bird - This was great, and the actress (Saoirse Ronan) did a great job. It takes place in Sacramento, so it was REALLY cool to see so much of Sacramento in a movie.  She did bash UC Davis which annoyed me a little bit, but I liked the rest of it a lot.  This doesn't get my vote for any awards, except maybe Best Supporting Actress for Laurie Metalf (who plays the mom).  She did a good job, but there are a few actresses that I would be happy with for the Best Supporting Actress award.

6. Phantom Thread - No desire to see this one whatsoever.  It looks SO boring.  If this wins Best Picture I'm throwing something at the TV.

7. The Post - This was great!!  Very fun and entertaining.  We really enjoyed watching it, but it doesn't get my vote for Best Picture.

8. The Shape of Water - I enjoyed this one.  It's funny, because all I heard about this one was how WEIRD this one was, but I didn't really think it was all that weird!  I thought it was very enjoyable and interesting. This doesn't get my vote for Best Picture, but I really liked it.  Octavia Spencer is another actress that I think would be great to win Best Supporting Actress. I think Guillermo del Toro will probably win Best Director for this (but I'm still pulling for Jordan Peele!).

9. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri - This one definitely gets my vote for Best Picture.  NO CONTEST, in my opinion. And Frances McDormand should win for Best Actress.  She's so amazing in EVERYTHING, but she really did such amazing work in this movie.  And there are two nominees for Best Supporting Actor (Woody Harrelson, Sam Rockwell) from this film, and I feel like one of them should win.  I'd prefer Woody, but they both did great. 

That's it!!  Sorry for the super long post!!  I hope you've all had a great weekend!!

Terracotta Warriors and The Dark Crystal

Hey guys!!  I will do a different post about THIS weekend (March 3-4), and an Oscars movie update, but this post will be about LAST weekend (Feb 24-25)!  Last Friday, we had tickets to go into Philly and see the Terracotta Warriors exhibit at the Franklin Institute!  Fridays are always hard (we're always sooo exhausted on Fridays), but we really wanted to see the Terracotta Warriors exhibit before it left the Franklin Institute (this is the last weekend for the exhibit!). So, we got reserved tickets for 7pm, and we just jumped on a train into the city right after work!  We got there a little early, so we walked around enjoying all the beautiful sights of the city, and we also stopped in a VERY fancy bar for a glass of wine before heading over to the Franklin Institute!  It was a really lovely way to unwind from the week.

Amor!

City Hall!  You know I love this building, and I always have to take pictures of it. 

City Hall again!  So pretty. 

The Terracotta Warriors exhibit was AMAZING.  It was even cooler than I was expecting.  If you don't know what the Terracotta Warriors are, here's a quick summary: They are terracotta sculptures of warriors that were buried surrounding the tomb of China's first emperor (Emperor Qin) to protect his tomb.  They were first discovered in the 1970s by a farmer, and excavation began in 1998.  Only a small portion has been excavated so far, but estimates are that there are 8000-9000 warrior sculptures, 130 chariots with 520 horse sculptures, and 150 cavalry horse sculptures all buried surrounding the mausoleum of the Emperor to protect him. An estimated 700,000 workers created these life-sized sculptures, and every single sculpture is unique (faces, uniforms, hairstyles, etc).  There's a lot more to read about these awesome Terracotta Warriors (how they were made, how they were buried, etc), but I figure that's a good short summary!! 

The front of the Franklin Institute! 

 

Ben Franklin in the front hall of the Franklin Institute! 

 So, that was an AMAZING Friday night!!  On Saturday we went for a really nice hike around Valley Forge with Guinness, but it started raining SO hard!  We got pretty soaked, but it was still fun.  After that we ran a bunch of errands (even though it was still pouring rain!).  On Sunday we met up with our friends Michael (the opera singer) and his fiance Jen to go bowling and see a movie!  The bowling alley near us has $1 games on Sunday mornings, so that's always fun. After we bowled a few games we went to grab lunch and a few drinks at a place by the movie theater, and then we walked over to the movie theater to see a special showing of The Dark Crystal (yes, the 1982 Jim Henson movie).  McGee and I loooove Jim Henson and pretty much everything he's ever done, and Michael loves Labyrinth and The Dark Crystal, and Jen had never seen The Dark Crystal before!!  It was a really fun time, and it was so cool to see the movie on a big screen.

That was last weekend!!  I will do another post later today about this weekend and an update on the Oscar movies (and my hopes/predictions!). I hope you're all having a great weekend!!