Movie Meme

(thanks, Amanda!)

1. One movie that made you laugh:
Garden State

2. One movie that made you cry:
My Life

3. One movie you loved when you were a child:
Muppets Take Manhattan

4. One movie you’ve seen more than once:
Disney's Robin Hood

5. One movie you loved, but were embarrassed to admit it:
Zoolander

6. One movie you hated:
Conspiracy Theory

7. One movie that scared you:
What Lies Beneath

8. One movie that bored you:
Yentl

9. One movie that made you happy:
You've Got Mail

10. One movie that made you miserable:
Adaptation

11. One movie you weren’t brave enough to see:
Hannibal

12. One movie character you’ve fallen in love with:
Gilbert Blythe in Anne of Green Gables

13. The last movie you saw:
Stranger than Fiction

14. The next movie you hope to see:
Prince Caspian

15. Your favorite movie:
Much Ado About Nothing

(Obviously, these are Missy's answers. Jason is not in love with Gilbert Blythe.)
I tag...Shaanti, Kaylyn

Rainy Odds and Ends

After weeks of crowing about the beautiful weather, we finally had our weekend of downpours--to the point where the gutters overflowed into our back door and we grabbed the clean towels from the laundry basket that was making its way upstairs to stop the flow. Lovely. It's just as well, though, as we've been sharing a cold the past few days and didn't feel much like going out anyway. I am very glad that I recently decided to purchase kleenex at Costco, so we should have enough to make it through this bug.

So not surprisingly, we didn't do much this weekend. Basically, the highlights from the past week, apart from lying on the couch watching TV or sleeping, include:

• Visiting the Jefferson's Library display at the Library of Congress. Pretty awesome, actually--my boss set up a tour for our staff and significant others with the Library's Curator. We could have listened to him for hours. In addition to a collection of books that Thomas Jefferson originally sold to Congress to start the Library, we got to see the original draft of the Declaration of Independence in Thomas Jefferson's handwriting, complete with edits by Ben Franklin and John Adams.
• Going to Dawn's last softball game at Herndon High School, where she coaches the JV team. Fun, and I gained a deeper appreciation for my parents, who spent how many hours of their lives sitting in stands, watching me play sports.
• Really, REALLY looking forward to this. Nephews (and possibly a niece?) are coming out of our ears, and we LOVE it!
• Installing a sliding drawer into the cabinet in the kitchen, completing my "Pantry Renaissance" project that has been underway since March. Let me tell you, it is COMPLETELY worth the investment in snap-lock containers at Bed Bath and Beyond to be able to find the enchilada sauce and access the mixing bowls easily. It could seriously be featured in a "Real Simple" magazine article. Now if only my desk at work made me feel so happy.

Gardening with Parents!

My parents felt pretty lucky to have pulled off four outdoor wedding receptions at their house with absolutely perfect weather. We felt the same way about the perfect weather we had for our three sets of springtime guests (though, obviously, perfect weather for visitors is significantly less important than perfect weather for weddings). To round out our Spring of Visitors, my parents arrived late last week and spent a warm, fun weekend with us.

Friday I took the day off work and the three of us drove up to the National Arboritum, where the azaelas and dogwoods were in gorgeous full bloom. We walked around a bit and snapped some pictures, then darted to Wendy's for a late lunch.

While we love simply being visited by our parents, we couldn't help but take advantage of the opportunity to pepper first Jason's parents, then mine, with questions about how to do this or that at our house. One important question I'd been anxiously waiting to ask my parents was where I should plant the little garden I'd been planning in my head. During my last visit home, we'd spent quite a while scouring plant catalogs and talking possibilities, but I needed their actual eyes on my yard before I could get started.

They one-upped me. Not only did they suggest the perfect spot for a garden, but they volunteered to help build it--well, let's face it, they basically built it themselves, with a little help from us! Saturday was gorgeous, and I spent the morning with my dad at the nursery picking out vegetables and planting them in our freshly-dug garden. By the end of the weekend, we had also trimmed the bushes, mulched the roses, and planted a lilac bush. Then we spent Sunday afternoon sacked out on the deck in the sun reading.

It was a wonderful visit. Part of me feels a bit guilty when our parents spend their vacations working up a sweat in the back yard or unpacking boxes in the basement. But I think the productive time together is important to both of us, especially since we don't get to do it very often. Plus, let's face it, Jason and I would have been totally lost planting a garden by ourselves!

What a fun spring! Now the rain can come whenever it wants...although I could handle this type of weather for a few more weeks. We have a pretty glorious summer stretching out ahead of us--no weddings to travel to, no moving, no getting married ourselves. Is it possible we could get bored?!?