Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Grease is the Word

It was 32 years ago this month when the movie Grease was releases. It’s hard to believe, 32 years!!!! I was nine years old when I saw the movie for the first time (it was probably the first non-Disney movie I ever saw) and then I immediate had to get the album and spend hundred and hundreds of hours over the next several years listening to it. And I still have that album.

I think it was the music that got me. It was fun and a little over my nine year old head (if you remember, there are some racy lyrics in Grease Lightning). While at that age I did have a crush on Shaun Cassidy, I never thought John Travolta was all the special (sorry, John). I never wanted to be Sandy (although I did like her hair) and I thought, even at nine, the Pink Ladies were too sophisticated to be high school girls.

But I loved the music. I sang the songs with my sister and my friends, knew every word. And who at my age didn’t? It was a pre-Generation X movie, way before John Hughes came along with Pretty in Pink, The Breakfast Club or Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.

And, if you hadn’t heard, next month Grease is being re-released as a “sing-a-long” movie. If you don’t know what that means, it’s when the words to the songs are shown on the screen during the songs so that the audience can sing-a-long. And I don’t think I’m going to miss that, a chance to have a fun time and reminisce.

Here’s a link to the trailer if you’re interested:
http://www.fandango.com/greasesingalong2010movietrailer/1_943537/121299

Saturday, June 26, 2010

Saturday Morning Breakfast with Dad

This morning I decided to cook myself breakfast. This is something I haven't done in so long I can remember the last time I did it. I even put in on one of my just for company square plates (doesn't food just look prettier on square plates). And although I know that this breakfast (which I tried to make a little health with wheat bread and turkey sausage) will probably consume half (if not more) of my salt intake for the day I did it because it reminds me of my Dad.

When we were growing up my Dad would cook breakfast for my sister and I almost every Saturday and Sunday. Usually it was eggs or pancakes and there was always a little daily vitamins on the plate. If you look closely in the upper right corner of my breakfast picture you'll see bottles of the some of the vitamins I take today. Growing up, during the week, breakfast was usually cereal (now it's usually yogurt and granola). But I always knew there'd be a breakfast for me on Saturday and Sunday thanks to my Dad.

Father's Day was this past week. The day after was my Dad's birthday. He would have turned 67 years old today. Even though it's been several years since he passed away, I still miss him terribly. So this morning I made myself breakfast and remembered all the weekend breakfasts my Dad made. Thanks Dad! I love you and miss you!

Monday, June 21, 2010

Vacation...Had to Get Away

I just got back from a vacation which was actually a mini-vacation because it was more like a four-day weekend but the two days I took off work to take this vacation was spend traveling in a car. Ah, well you take what you can get and I don’t get a lot. I define vacation as any Monday through Friday when I’m not at work. This is how Merriam-Webster defines vacation:

1 : a respite or a time of respite from something : intermission
2 a : a scheduled period during which activity (as of a court or school) is suspended b : a period of exemption from work granted to an employee
3 : a period spent away from home or business in travel or recreation (had a restful vacation at the beach)
4 : an act or an instance of vacating

I work in corporate America and therefore get two weeks of vacation (which is actually 10 days of vacation). When I started with the company I currently work for employees got another five days after 10 years. Yes, 10 years! Because morale has been so poor I think that has changed to five years.

And when you think about it that’s not a lot of time off. Especially when you compare it to anyone who works in the education field, and a lot of my friends do. Some of them get as much as 12 weeks off a year and yes, I feel a little bitterness towards them about that. And don’t get me started on anyone who works outside the United States (the company I work for has offices in Canada and Australia and you wouldn’t believe how much vacation time they get!).

I take my vacation very seriously. There are really two types of vacation: the one where you stay at home (and either do things at home or have people visit you) or the one where you go somewhere. Since we rarely get anyone visiting us in Colorado, most of my vacations are spent travelling. And since I have limited time (and even limited money) I have to make the most of them which means I’m not just going to go off on some random trip to somewhere I don’t really want to go and do something I don’t really want to do. And unless it’s Europe, there probably better be a really big body of water nearby.

And I am very fortunately that my next, true vacation (more than two days) will do just that. While I’ll probably have to endure two 12-hour days in a car it will be worth it to spend time at the cottage on the beach in Oregon. Countdown: 79 days until my feet touch the Pacific Ocean again!