I thought it would be a fantastic idea to take a nearly three mile nighttime photo walk with Burgh Baby (one of my all-time favorite Internet-turned-real-life friends) last night. You know. After I ran a 5K that morning. To be fair, I felt fine. And I still feel fine today. Just some sore feet.

But it was so worth it.

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Mainly because I had great company.

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But also because it’s NYC. And things get random. And sparkly.

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And Buzz was there to remind me of my boys.

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I complained to Michelle as we walked and talked and talked and walked that the only time that I had seen a lights and sirens fire truck while walking, I didn’t have my camera in hand. As we continued on our way, every lights and sirens situation was an ambulance. I sighed.

And then we stumbled upon a fire house. One in which two of their trucks were just returning.

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And I squealed with joy.

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I’m sure the firefighters were thinking, “Who is this crazy short woman with the tall friend? Why is she squealing with delight and taking 498590409 pictures?” They didn’t know that I was part of their extended family, that my nightshirt while in NYC is one of my husband’s old work shirts. I considered stopping, especially when Michelle pointed out the tall firefighter who, like my husband, didn’t look old enough to drive the fire truck. But my tongue stuck to the roof of my mouth and we walked on.

But not before I snapped this with no flash in a low-light situation.

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So worth the sore feet.

 

I’ve written about my love-hate relationship with the Twilight series. Thanks to two of my friends, I have another chapter in my love-hate relationship. This time it’s with the movies.

Mandy & MeLast night my crazy friend Mandy (@fouragainsttwo) and our other friend (@outnumberedmom) stood in line (with Mandy’s mom and two of her guests) for the New Moon premiere. I should start out by saying that I still haven’t watched the first movie (due to a broken DVD player and the mental incapacity to remember that I can watch DVDs on all of our computers). I should next state that out of all four books, New Moon was my least favorite. By least favorite, of course, I do mean that I loathed it with all of my being. On top of not being vampiric enough and stinking of wet dog, the second book contained Meyer’s worst attempts at writing (in my opinion). I just hated every single page of it. Except, you know, when Edward was around. I digress.

I’ll admit to having a nice evening into early morning. We ate at the Olive Garden, got kicked out of Starbucks (why do they close at 9:30 on a weeknight?), found out that Kohl’s is currently open until 11:00pm due to the holidays, purchased things we didn’t need and then made our way to stand in line. Mandy made us goodie bags with Twilight candies, calendars, the New Moon soundtrack and other things that made me feel even dorkier than usual as I found myself far too excited over teenage movie stuff. Alas, we were not the only adults in line. In fact, one of my Facebook friends, upon reading my status when I returned home from the movie adventure at 3:24 IN THE MORNING said this, and I quote:

Were the Cougars as bad at your showing as they were at mine?! They were worse than the teenagers.

There was a WINNEBAGO full of them in the parking lot!

I laughed. Out loud. There were quite a few “Twilight Moms,” as an article in our local newspaper put it yesterday. The crowd was comprised of a lot more teenagers than I expected (didn’t they have school today?) but the “cougars” were out in full force. I do suppose that our group qualified as such. Great.

As for the crowd, they weren’t too obnoxious while we were waiting though I do admit to thinking that anyone who left their water/pop/juice bottle and other assorted pieces of trash on the floor needs to be taught a thing or two about manners. In the theater, there was the initial squeal of delight when Edward, the vampire everyone seems to adore, came on screen. A similar gasp of approval came when Jacob, the werewolf, was first seen and, of course, again when he took off his shirt. I still maintain that his head is too small for his body and shoulder span and do not see the attraction. I prefer my men to be thin and rather pale. (Have you seen FireDad? I mean, honestly.) Also, head proportion is key.

The movie? Oh yes, we were there to see the movie and not just experience the crowds and stay up way, way past my bedtime. I liked the movie. Hush now, don’t judge or flog me. I liked the movie more than the book, which is something I rarely say as I almost always hate book-to-movie adaptations. This is the rare exception as I so thoroughly hated the book that the movie simply had to be an improvement. It was greatly improved in the fact that it flowed better and didn’t drag on as unnecessarily as the book did. There were bits of annoyances for me, however, including the very awful sparkle-and-dazzle effect for when the vampires hit sunlight. It’s worse than a 1980′s special effect. Very bad. Some of the acting was annoying. I love Bella but if I had to listen to her breathe one more time I was going to laugh out loud.

All in all, I had a thrilling time. I still don’t see what my one friend sees in Jacob but I love her all the same. Mandy owes me some coffee and a nap for dragging us out. (Just kidding, I think.) All that said, I really don’t think I’ll be making the midnight premiere for Eclipse. I might go see it in the theater but on a Tuesday afternoon when swooning teenagers are in school or still sleeping (as I think it’s planned as a summer release). I’m still tired as I write this at 2:17pm. I’m just grumpy because I’m sure the teens that were in attendance last night are up-and-at-em today while I feel like I got hit by a truck. Cougar, maybe, but I’d allow Edward Cullen to bite my neck if it meant I never again felt this old and tired and would never need sleep again.

You can read Mandy’s thoughts on the whole event here. But really, she owes me coffee.

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