Life After Gringotts: The Bill Weasley Story

Is there any other Sunday that sparks such debate, anticipation, and excitement than Oscar Sunday? Move over Super Bowl Sunday - it's time for the Oscars! (Guys, seriously, football isn't even in the Olympics. Well, football as we Americans know it.)

Since January Bryan and I have made it our mission to see as many nominated films as possible. We spent our anniversary weekend living in an AMC theater downtown seeing films like The Revenant and Spotlight. Because what else says, "I love you" like watching Leonardo DiCaprio being mauled by a bear?

Leo, Spotlight, and Mad Max were the big winners of last night's award show, but when I look back at all the movies we've seen I think there's one guy who totally won in the 2015-2016 season: Bill Weasley. I mean, Domhnall Gleeson, but I'm going to refer to him as Bill throughout this post because once a Weasley always a Weasley. Every time we watched a movie Bill Weasley was there. It was like magic. There was Bill falling in love with a robot in Ex Machina. We saw him again as he was falling in love (this time with Saoirse Ronan) in Brooklyn. He made Molly proud by serving his country in The Revenant. And he even supported the dark side (Sorry, Harry) in Star Wars.

If I had to sum up all the movies we saw into a theme it would be: Survival. Think about the crappiest thing that's ever happened to you, a loved one, or the world and then make a movie about it. It's no wonder that I cried during every Best Picture nominee. 

Here's my thoughts on the 2016 Best Picture nominees (from my least favorite to most favorite):

1. Bridge of Spies (#8):  While I can appreciate the costume and set design, I think this movie overall was just okay. I was surprised to see it listed with these other movies for Best Picture and extremely surprised when Mark Rylance won for Best Supporting Actor, but then immediately felt bad for saying that out loud after he gave a very heart-warming speech.
2. The Martian (#7): I'm just going to say it - I hate movies about space. I also hate movies where only one actor is in the majority of the scenes. No one is that interesting. I need more than one person (or a volleyball) to stay interested in a movie. With all that being said, I didn't hate this movie like I thought I would. 
3. The Revenant (#6): This movie is like flipping through a really bloody issue of National Geographic magazine. I desperately needed subtitles every time Tom Hardy's character said anything, but I may not have been able to read them since my eyes automatically shut every time someone got attacked by a bear, killed by an arrow, or raped by a tree. Oh and there was also that part where Leo crawls into his dead, bloody horse to stay warm. Oscar well-deserved. 
4. Room (#5): After I read this book a couple years ago I remember thinking, "God, I hope they never make this into a movie." The book was such a terrifying concept that I think the story itself is more compelling than the actual individual performances in the movie. 
5. Mad Max: Fury Road (#4): Just when you think the most violent movie of the year is going to be The Revenant you watch Mad Max and see someone's face ripped off. The only way I know how to describe many of the characters from this horrifyingly beautiful movie is as a combination between everyone on Sons of Anarchy and the Reavers from Firefly (and thinking that now I'm guaranteed to have nightmares tonight). The costumes, hair, makeup, set, and stunts were amazing. All the technical awards it won are well-earned. As a side note: if our world ever does end up like this and I'm still alive someone please kill me, but in a non-face-ripped-off kind of way.
6. The Big Short (#3): This was Bryan's favorite. I think that has to do with all the death metal Christian Bale listened to throughout the movie. I actually thought Steve Carell's performance was great in this movie and gave me flashes of every time Michael Scott got upset on The Office. This movie will be also be added to our "Reasons We Don't Want to Own a House" list. 
7. Brooklyn (#2): Definitely the sweetest movie of the year and a much needed breath of fresh air after watching movies like Mad Max or The Revenant. Saoirse Ronan's performance was magical. What she can convey with just a look is crazy for someone her age (or anyone's age for that matter). When she was sad, I was sad. When she was happy, I was happy. When she got food poisoning on the ship to America and had to go to the bathroom in that bucket, I stopped eating my nachos. 
8. Spotlight (#1): This was the movie that I cried that hardest at. Mark Ruffalo was robbed for Best Supporting Actor. Did it remind me of All The President's Men? Sure, but I think it's an important story that needed to be told in this exact way. Plus, Stanley Tucci. Need I say more?

Celebrating Our First Anniversary with Obscene Amounts of Movies and Food

Jack: What's the traditional first anniversary gift?

Karen: Oh, let me try to remember. Uh... For my first anniversary, I got... a million dollars in cash... Paper! It's paper.

I'm just going to say it. The first year of married life is easy. You spend so much of your time celebrating throughout the year that it's like your birthday or New Year's Eve every day. People care about your relationship and say wonderful things about it every time they see you.

We celebrated our first anniversary last month with a weekend alone in the Chicago. Looking back I think it's a perfect way to start Year Two. It's no longer about having other people celebrate your relationship, it's now our job. And celebrate we did. Since the traditional first anniversary gift is paper, and Bryan refused to give me a million dollars in cash, we decided to give each other movie tickets, anniversary cards, a book of pictures from our first year together, and a piece of paper with a list of the five places we want to travel to next.

The day we got married we went out to breakfast and then went to the movies (we saw Whiplash). Every January it's my goal to see all the Academy Award Best Picture nominees. I love that our anniversary weekend falls right in the middle of award season because we'll get to watch great movies together every year. We still have one more movie to watch, but I plan to write a post just with my thoughts from the eight films soon.

Read on to see how we celebrated our first year together and what four things I learned along the way. Fair warning for all those who are hungry before reading this next part. There are a lot of food pictures. If you're one of those people (like me) who needs to eat before they go to the grocery store so they don't buy everything in site, you might need to grab a snack before you continue.

Got your apple? Okay, let's continue.

1. Love means never having to say we don't have time to watch six movies in one weekend:

Seriously, I'll have more to write about all the movies we saw, but the major highlight from this part of the weekend was that I cried at some point during every movie and learned that Bryan has NEVER CRIED AT A MOVIE. You never stop learning things about the person you married. 

Horrible picture, but here we are during Day One of the Oscar marathon. We might be the only people who pick a hotel based on how close it is to a movie theater.

2. Your anniversary dinner is just another time to say, "I do." 

Do you want to order that? "I do." Do you want some more sushi? "I do." Do you want to order enough food for our table, that table, and the other table over there even though it's just the two of us? "I do." We enjoyed an amazing dinner at Sunda in Chicago, which is described as Creative Asian Fusion. I think it's important to select a restaurant that can also be used to describe yourself. It was the best meal I've ever had.

Crispy brussels sprouts salad

Escolar "The Great White" - escolar, truffle shavings, and potato chip

Oxtail pot stickers

Lobster and wagyu

Spicy "Tail of Two Tunas"

Street corn - grilled corn, sambal coconut cream, toasted coconut, pandan leaves. Full disclosure - I ate five out of the six of these. 

3. Sometimes you can celebrate like you're on a gameshow. Other times you can just order yourself a drink at the bar and call it a night.

Last year when we got married we may have gone to Binny's and shopped in a Supermarket-Sweep-everything-is-free-(it wasn't)-because-we-got-married kind of way. This year we decided to tone it down and hit up one of our new favorite spots for cocktails to toast the end of Year One and beginning of Year Two.

The Typical Cat at Sable is delicious. It tastes like a refreshing lemon/lime-ade. You forget there was alcohol in it until you have to get up and remember how to walk back to the hotel.

4. When you're not in Rome and still craving Italian - go to Eataly.

After walking outside our hotel we discovered that we were staying very close to Eataly. We spent the last day in Chicago roaming around the store looking at all the different food, books, and wine. I was a little confused how the store was set up because there seemed to be tables every where, but I didn't know if we could just sit down or if we needed to see a host somewhere. Was it one host for the whole place? Or did different sections have different rules for that? Tough questions to answer when you're starving with food all around you, but you can't eat it. Now I know how Dumbledore felt that time when he and Harry were in that cave and he was so thirsty, but he couldn't drink because the water kept disappearing. Like our Hogwarts heroes, (spoiler alert) we too found our way to what we needed. We asked for a table at one of the host stands. No inferi fighting required. 

I could totally eat all that. That would actually be a fun game to play at Eataly. Look at the food displays and see how much you could eat of it. 10 points if you can eat it all. 5 points for half. And -2 points for none of it. Any negative scores in your group will help weed out the people you don't need to be friends with anymore.

Bryan - 10 points.

Housemade pappardelle with mushroom

This was the special pizza of the day

Of course we ended our time at Eataly with a couple truffles to take home

Four Reasons to Run on New Year's Day

There's nothing like running in the winter. Ice on the ground, cleverly covered with snow. Ice in your nostrils. Ice in your brain because no one in their right state of thinking wants to wake up on New Year's Day and run in the freezing cold. So thank goodness there's nothing like running in the winter. Because it's the worst. I've always said that winter is the worst thing to happen to weather since summer.

When I ran this race two years ago, it was even colder and it was snowing. My time was pretty terrible this year, but it was four minutes faster than 2014's time. As we were standing at the start line I overhead a woman tell her friend, "I can't believe we actually paid to do this!" Thinking about signing up next year? Here are four reasons to do it.

Four reasons to do the NYD 5k:

1. The price is right - only $25 for the 5k!
2. Swag - the long sleeve technical t-shirt is actually a quality shirt and perfect for winter running (or wintertime pizza eating) 
3. End the year without the hangover - One unexpected thing I like about this race is that I don't overindulge on New Year's Eve because I know the next day I'm going to be running. It's like getting a jump start on your New Year's diet so you can quit on January 30th instead of the 31st. 
4. Sleep in - The race starts at 11:00am, so even you did make it to midnight (something that escapes me ever year) you don't have to wake up too early on New Year's Day

And bonus - I'm 1/12th of the way through with my goal to run a race every month!

Three Reasons Why I'm Making Time a Friendship Bracelet

I'm a big fan of making sweeping declarations and setting crazy goals. I'm obsessed with bucket lists and my always changing: 'Things to Accomplish' list. For one month of the year a good portion of the population agrees with me and makes me feel a little less insane. Come February, though, everyone has gone back to normal life, resolutions forgotten, and I'm over here frantically adding more things to my list before I run out of time.

Time. It's always been something that the less I have left, the more I want. More time for reading. More time for traveling. And especially, more time with my friends and family.

After losing my Mom in 2011 time did a really funny thing. It started moving twice as fast. I wasn't 25 anymore. I was 50. I suddenly realized that there was so much to do, so many places I hadn't visited, books I hadn't read, movies that have gone unwatched, and things I hadn't told my loved ones yet. I started to see time as my enemy rather than my friend. I constantly thought, "Do I have too much on my plate or am I just not eating fast enough?"

This year I've decided to wave the white flag. Not to surrender, but to call off the war that I've created in my head and start a new friendship with time. (I would have chosen a different color flag, but I don't know what color a friendship flag is. Or would be? Is their a friendship flag? What is the color of friendship? Does that make anyone else think of that Color of Friendship Disney TV movie about the white girl from South Africa who goes to live with a black American family? God I loved Disney TV.).

To kick off this new friendship I've put together three ways I'd like to partner with time in 2016:

1. For my mind: read more classics
2. For my health: run a race a month 
3. For my soul: explore Chicago

For my mind: read more classics

Last year Bryan got me the most wonderful collection of classics for my birthday, but I haven't read one of them yet.  I spent a lot of 2015 acquiring lots of books to fill my shelves and this year I'd like to spend more time reading and less time buying. I know Bryan will be pleased to know he won't have to carry 15 pounds of books every time we go to a bookstore. In the perfect world, I would read all 26 books, but my new friend time is advising me to not set a reading pace. Thousands of pages shouldn't be crammed into a year, but enjoyed each day.

For my health: run a race a month

Unfortunately, time has not been as nice about running like it was with reading. Running in the cold and the heat is not my favorite thing to do, but making health a priority seems to be one way to help extend time so I think it's a fair trade off. I ran 12 races in 2014 and I felt so good after completing the year. It was hard, but I loved the feeling of accomplishment and hearing that I was inspiring others to start running too.

For my soul: explore Chicago

Like having all these amazing classics at my fingertips and not reading them, I have a wonderful city less than 10 miles away that I haven't fully explored yet. Traveling to different places, trying local food, and seeing how other people live is something I would do full time if I could. While I still want to see everything I can, I also want to take advantage of what's a quick train ride away. Bryan also got me this awesome pack of 50 different Chicago city walks last year that I want to use in 2016. I'm excited to start exploring all the cool things this city has to offer.

So that's how I'm going to be spending my time this year. Hopefully my friends and family will join me along the way - either reading the same books I'm reading, running with me (or cheering for me on the sidelines - because let's be honest, I'll need all the support I can get), or coming along to have a Chicago adventure! 

2015: Books I've Read

I had the best intentions this year to really start incorporating more book reviews here, but time slipped through my fingers once again. Thanks to audio books, book club books, and Harry Potter I was able to complete my goal of finishing 40 books this year. Below I've included a list of my favorite books I read and some that I never want to see again.

Best Book Club Book:
Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty

Book I Couldn't Stop Thinking About:
An Untamed State by Roxanne Gay

Best Wintertime Read (besides Harry Potter, because, duh.):
Still Life with Bread Crumbs by Anna Quindlen

Best Audio Book:
Let's Pretend this Never Happened by Jenny Lawson

Most Disturbing Scene:
All The Birds, Singing by Evie Wyld

Most Challenging Read:
A Girl Is A Half-formed Thing by Eimear McBride

Most Inspiring Read:
We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Funniest Read:
Why Not Me? by Mindy Kaling

Best Re-Read:
The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde

Not Great, But Not Terrible:
Go Set A Watchman by Harper Lee

Worst Book, Best Burn-This-In-Case-of-Emergency Book:
Outline by Rachel Cusk

Biggest Hype, Biggest Let Down:
How to be both by Ali Smith

Fall 2015: Festivals, Apple Orchards, and Pumpkin Farms

It's that glorious time of year when the temperature drops and all you want to do is curl up on the couch binge-watching Gilmore Girls while binge-drinking pumpkin lattes until Netflix asks, "Are you still watching?" Of course I'm still watching, Netflix - it's Fall!

September was an extremely jammed packed month of Fall fun. 

Riot Fest (September)

Riot Fest is like the cooler, older brother of Lollapalooza. Where Lollapalooza has a Converse-nation of tweens with metallic temporary tattoos, Riot Fest has a sea of Doc Martin wearing 35-year-old chain smokers in black hoodies. Someday I hope there's a festival of cardigan-wearing, library-book-holding nerds listening to music at a reasonable volume and I'll finally feel like I belong.

This year there was a Groupon for the festival and my all-time favorite band from when I was a kid was playing. This is the part where I tell you that I'm a huge No Doubt fan and you agree to still be my friend. Deal?

We were originally supposed to go to Riot Fest all day Friday, but (like it always does) it rained pretty much all day until 5:00pm. We decided to head out later hoping that the ground wouldn't be too muddy. We were mostly right.

Too happy to be at Riot Fest.

Just another Ferris wheel that Bryan refused to ride with me.

"Hey Jeremy, want to go hang out and listen to music?"
"Yeah, anywhere but Riot Fest. Riot Fest sucks."
"Don't worry. I would never dream of taking you to Riot Fest."
*arrives at Riot Fest*
"Son of a...."

Just Gwen Stefani climbing up the stage. No big deal.

Morton Pumpkin Festival - Pumpkin Pancakes (September)

Is there anything more satisfying than running a hard race and being rewarded with a pancake breakfast? Yes. It's eating a pancake breakfast without running a hard race. So maybe I felt a little guilty indulging in the unlimited pumpkin pancakes and sausages, but also, I didn't.

Please note that I'm actually dressed up to go running in an attempt to fool people into thinking that I earned these pancakes.

Tanners (September)
After recovering from the Pumpkin Pancake Takedown of 2015 we (me, my Dad, and Bryan) met Justin, Kiana, and Hayden at Tanners Orchard for more Fall fun. Sadly, the line was out of control and we didn't get to buy any apples or cider before we left. Here are some of my favorite moments from our visit:

There was a scale outside of this tent that every kid had to stand on to ensure that they weren't over 80 pounds. I guess that would crush the horse, who has a marvelous life of walking in a circle day after day. He's probably praying for some Happy-Meal-Loving kid to put him out of his misery. Unfortunately for Mr. Sad Horse, Kiana weighs ten pounds. When we got to the scale she started trying to take off her boots. When I asked her why she said she was worried that she would be overweight because her boots (pictured above) must be at least 80 pounds.

The moment when Kiana learned that birds have sharp beaks. 

I can't remember everything she said to this llama, but I know it's going to be rethinking some of his (her?) life choices after their conversation.

That time I realized my brother has super human strength while I struggled to carry my own purse. 

Dollinger's (September)
I made my first visit to Dollinger's this year. Bryan has been there multiple times and always brings home a giant pumpkin to carve. Despite it being Fall it was about a million degrees the day we (me, Bryan, Danielle, Donna, and Pat) went. I learned that corn mazes are not for me, but if I'm forced to enter I'm going with Danielle because she knows what's up. I would have died in the Triwizard Maze even without the Blast Ended Skrewts. Here are my favorite moments:

So many beautiful Fall colors!

This place was made for family pictures.

If you build it, he will come.

At the start the maze. Look how cocky and confident I look.

Ten minutes later. Am I supposed to be shooting up green sparks or red sparks for help?

Days later we made it out.

Pumpkins everywhere!

There's my pumpkin! Third from the right. No, from the left. Or was in fifth from the left?

Be Sure To Wear Some Flowers In Your Hair | Things To Do in San Francisco: Part Two

Not that I needed another reason to want to move to California, but summer in Illinois has ended and once again forgotten to take the humidity with it. I'm sitting here sweating in September dreaming back to a few weeks ago when I was in San Francisco. This was my second time and Bryan's third time to San Francisco this year. While our first trip focused more on more touristy stuff, our latest adventure was about two things: food and babies. Well, baby. My best friend from my Barnes and Noble/College days had a beautiful baby boy and we had to meet him in person.

Oh, one thing that's probably important to note here. A couple weeks before our trip out to San Francisco I made the decision to no longer be a vegetarian. I was a vegetarian for nine years. Which basically adds up to a million conversations where anyone and everyone asks, "Why did you become a vegetarian?" "Do you miss eating meat?" "Where do you get your protein?" "Bacon?" Never has a people cared so much about protein intake than when a vegetarian is in the room. Looking back I wish I would have asked, "But where do you get your fruit and vegetables? Are you sure you're getting enough?" I know, I know, I know, but Allison, seriously, why are you not a vegetarian anymore? *Slams head into wall* Here it is, world - I just didn't feel like it anymore. Okay, let's move on because oooo look a baby!

1. Eat some liquid nitrogen ice cream
I'm pretty sure that 84 percent of my travel tips involve eating. Of those tips, 73 percent involve dessert. And of those dessert-related tips, 92 percent involve ice cream. I could be wrong with those percentages. The amount of sugar I've consumed this year has been slowly killing my brain cells. That's what brain freeze is, right? I tried one of Smitten Ice Cream's seasonal flavors (sweet corn with berries) and it was delicious!

2. Take a stroll down Clarion Alley
The graffiti is as colorful as the characters you'll find sitting along the alley. Yes, some of these characters may be sleeping in the alley or peeing in the alley, but there's a lot of art to distract you.

Our personal mantra

I don't know what's more distracting - the fact that my hair is turning into Storm's from X-Men or Bryan's beard.  

Second take. Nailed it.

3. Try a frozen hot chocolate and a brownie flight with judgment on the side.
Dandelion Chocolate was one of my favorite places from this last trip. The space was beautiful and the chocolate was amazing. On an unrelated note, I recently went to the dentist and have three cavities.

Outside they had the coolest grates around the trees. 

4. Have some A LOT prime rib
One of the best things about not being a vegetarian is coming to a place like the House of Prime Rib. The room we sat in was dimly lit with a large cart full of prime rib moving from table to table. It was so dimly lit that the table behind us had dropped something underneath their table and tried multiple times to find it throughout their meal with no luck. My guess was a child was left behind.

I maybe ate 1/4 of that

5. Spend the day in Napa
On Saturday our group rented a car and drove the hour and a half to Napa. It was probably around 20 degrees warmer in Napa since it's more inland, which can be easy to forget. I'm not sure how people do Napa ALL day after three wineries I was exhausted and extremely jealous that Jack got to sleep and be pushed around in a stroller all day. We started the day at Domaine Carneros Winey, then went to Silver Oak Cellars, had lunch at Gott's Roadside, and finished our visit at Orin Swift Wine Cellars.