OMG French Fries!

Or: Busch Gardens Williamsburg Passmember Preview Day.

Every year before the park opens for the year the Passmember are invited in for a day.  There usually is a presentation and we get the park to ourselves.

This year's presentation gave us some interesting information:

• The new coaster, InvadR, opens April 7th.  
• The Food and Wine Festival has 1 extra weekend and has 3 new booths: India, Mediterranean and Frozen Tropical Drinks.  (That last one... oh yeah....). I wonder if they are taking any booths away.  Time will tell about that one.
• There is going to be a kid's Halloween event (during the day) this year. 
• There is another Howl-O-Scream surprise.  I heard the show Fiends had its last show last season.. so maybe a new show?
• Europe in the Air is gone forever.  Next year we get an Ireland-themed VR ride.  (I'm not a coaster person.. so this is big!
• There's 2 new shows:  Britmania and OctoberZest.  I'm hoping that the British Invasion show is good!
• And there's a new place to eat!  Les Frites!  It's a restaurant that serves fancy French Fries!  OMG!  

I LOVE French fries!  We decided to try the Smokehouse and the Irish fries.  The Irish fries weren't that great, but the Smokehouse Fries will be my new go-to lunch!  OMG!

Irish on the left, Smokehouse on the right

We walked around the park, but was dismayed by the lack of the animals.  I heard that they were going, but it was so sad!  The sheep, cows, goats and the conservation area are all gone.  Even my favorite tortoise us gone!  (He's at Bluebird Gap Farm now, I was told)

Before the big InvadR reveal, we decided to finally get our wood plaque for the door.  I need clear tabs to hang it, but we're official now.

I need to order some clear 3M Command strips!

On the way out to the car, we stopped by to see the new coaster's art.  Wow!  That's great!

I must say, I look forward to Preview Day every year.  This year didn't disappoint.  I'm waiting for the shows to open for the season.

And of course I'm counting the days until Food and Wine!!!

Beauty and the Beast (There may be a spoiler or two)

We just got back from an advanced (Well, by three hours or so) showing of Beauty and the Beast.

I'd say that there will be spoilers, but except for some more flushed out details, the plot is exactly the same as the animated movie.

from comingsoon.net

But here are my thoughts:

from etonline

Belle has always resonated with so many women because of her intelligence.  In a world of tradition and old rural values, here is this woman that has a mind of her own.  She seeks knowledge and uses her critical thinking skills.  Emma Watson embodies those traits.  She's not going to win a Tony for her singing, but she makes up for it.

from movieweb.net

I always thought the animated Gaston was a bit too much to be believable.  He had everything turned up to 11.  Luke Evens gives the character depth, while in some ways turning up the evil.  They added a verse to the Mob Song that proves how devious he is (not to mention leaving Maurice for dead!):

[GASTON]
Call it war, call it threat
You can bet they all will follow
For in times like this, they'll do just as I say

[LEFOU]
There's a beast running wild, there's no question
But I fear the wrong monster's released

from comingsoon.net

Lefou.  In the animated feature this character was a bumbling idiot.  By making him gay and in love with Gaston it gives a reasoning for what he does.  And he manages to redeem himself at the end.

And the guy gives some serious shade at times!

from today.com

The Beast.  Does this guy even have a name?  The CGI was a bit much at times.  He looked like an animated character.  (Though in closeups it was better).  By filling in some of those plot holes and filling out his backstory it helps give weight to his character.  And who knew that Matthew Crawley could sing??




As for the talking furnishings.  I loved them.  Seriously, Be Our Guest was worth the price of admission.  (Watch it.  Does Belle even get to eat?)  I almost jumped up to applaud!

This movie isn't a new take on the animated classic.  It more of fleshing it out and making it a better movie.  I adored this movie when I was younger.  I still enjoyed the original.  I love this version.  I like this MUCH better than the Cinderella remake!

I enjoyed every moment!  Go see it now!!

Please Be Our Guest!

Beauty and the Beast came out in 1991, when I was in High School.  Being all of 16 I saw it... multiple times...

My graduation gift was a CD player, and my first CD was the Beauty and the Beast soundtrack.

I ended my High School career with my choir singing a medley of the songs from the movie.

I know most of the words of every song.  Be Our Guest especially!

I'm a fan.

I was a bit hesitant when I heard they were doing the live action.   But the songs were released!

We already had seen this:


But then we got the whole thing!



Off to a good start...

and then we got this one:


And here's the full version:


The thing that struck me the most is Gaston's voice.  The animated version was a baritone, but Luke Evans is a tenor.  But it still works for me.

And Josh gad was meant to play LaFou!

But it all comes down to this one.  Give it a listen:


(Did you sing along?  I did!)

I'm actually looking forward to this.  (And we all know that I've had precious little to look forward to lately!)

But it's Friday and I'm on my own for the weekend.  In honor of that I'm throwing myself a Luau and making this.  I'll probably start it on Saturday night and eat on Sunday! 

Happy Friday everyone!

These last few weeks have been years long

It all happened rather quickly.  She passed.  Her office was packed up (nominally to separate her personal belongings with items that needed to stay at work.  The majority of that later category is here currently in my office so the painters can paint her office.

And after that it won't be her office anymore.

I'm still finding tasks that are incomplete, and things that she needed to attend to.  Campus has been very supportive, letting me know if things are overdue and expressing their condolences.

And what am I doing in the face of this added work?

I don't know what it is?  I see this to-do list that's a mile long (and it just gets longer as the day goes on) and I freeze.  I just want to hide under the bed.

Today, for instance, I had a super short to-do list.  And I couldn't even get TO the list until 2pm.  I spent that long trying to figure out baffling emails.

But it's almost 5.  I've made of list of things that need to get done tomorrow.  I'm already dreading the emails that will come in between now and then.  And that just make me want cupcakes.

The sad thing is: I'd feel 1000% better in this position if I knew what was going on.  If the outgoing person could train me.  But that simply isn't possible.  And other departments can only help do much.

But now I'm going home.  I'll cry.  I'll nap.  I'll avoid the world.  I'll run.  And I'll come back tomorrow, ready to try to figure this shit out again.

Sadly, life still has to go on.

I walked into work on Friday and came face to face with her closed door.  She'll never be in there to share a laugh with me again.

Every time her name pops up on work related materials, my heart hurts a little.

We packed up her office.  Well, I should say that an AMAZING student packed up most of it.  I needed to separate the work paperwork from her personal paperwork.  It was an unfortunate necessity.  With the contents of her office in boxes, it makes things a little easier to handle.  We're going to move the desk around.  That should help me not want to cry every time I look into the room.

Various campus offices have been working behind the scenes to transfer her point of contact information to me.  Every time that happens, I have to hold back tears.

We've planned a memorial.  Obituaries are being written.  I found my black dress.

But do you know the biggest thing that I did?  I signed up for a pile of races.  Many of these are the races that she and I did!

Run the D.O.G.
Christmas Town Dash 8K

(She's the one on the right)

Anyone want to run with me?  (Or walk with me?)

Heaven just gained another Angel

I started working at the College in 2011.  I was working with a wonderful faculty, amazing graduate students.  One of the best parts was my coworker Gail.

We ran races together.  We saw Marvel Movies together.

And in 2012 we was diagnosed with cancer.

She had chemo off and on since then.  Some times were good.  Some times were not so good.  When times were not so good I did a little extra work in the office.

Last night her battle ended.

I'm heartbroken.  But she's no longer suffering.

All that is left is to find a way to say goodbye.  And to try to make sense of the work in the office that is left.  I don't even know where to begin with that task.  Thankfully I have a ton of support from the Dean's office and other admins on campus.

Eventually, everything will be OK again.  But today I'm not OK.  And it's going to take some time before I feel OK again.

Right now, I'm remembering the woman that had a wonderful laugh.  We all went to Disney World last year.  I ran the Princess Half, she ran the 5K.

This is how I'll remember her.

Wow.. that's embarrassing!

I stepped on a scale today.

192 pounds.

Wow... and I was doing so well!

How did I get here?

This is part of it.  I've been living in this weird place of stress for a while now.  And it's just getting worse.  My coworker recently moved from a place of being treated for cancer to a place of hospice care.  So now her work is my work, and I'm spending this week doing triage.

Actually, today I hit a place where the task was so big that I couldn't comprehend it.  (This is why I'm blogging... I'm hiding from my to-do list)

(And my heart is breaking over her situation.)

I'm working out, almost every day....

Basically, I now need an action plan!

1. I need to plan and portion the heck out of what I eat!  That means having snacks and plans for weekend eating!
2. Working out.  I have a plan.  I need to stick to it!  And maybe up the cardio intensity...  (And not skip my Saturday workouts....)
3. Do something to manage the stress.  I have help available to me.  I need to use it.  In fact, I'm going to start doing that this week.  
4. Water:  I eat mindlessly.  How about water or tea when I'm hungry.
5. Get off my ass!  I need to set a timer to get up and walk every half hour at work.  And walk at lunch.  A break won't kill me.
6. And in that vein... get my 10,000 steps!

I'm already starting.

I ran this morning

I have a solid meal plan.  I have a meeting tomorrow at a restaurant and picked out a not awful meal to have!

And I need to not eat my feelings

let's hope I don't need to publicly kick myself in the ass in 6 months!