♫Stranded at the #drive-in...branded a fool..." A #family fun first...

 

Franklin Drive-In Theatre in Franklin, Kentucky

(image linked to their website)

This past Saturday night my husband and I did something together we've never done. It was actually really special and different. Of course, I'd never done it before at all with anyone, but he had a lot of times in his life. I mean, he did it with his parents and his friends, and now we've shared the experience with our kids.

We took the kids to see movies at the drive-in. 

(Yeah, I can't get "Sandy" or John Travolta's falsetto whining out of my head now either, much as I love Grease)

My parents first date was at the Twin Hills Drive-In in Harrodsburg, KY in the 1970s. My mom said she didn't eat before they left, so while my dad tried to smoke a pipe to impress her, she snuck off to the concession stand and wolfed down a burger to quiet her rumbling stomach. But, in all the time I was growing up we never went to the drive-in, which was closed in the mid-80s. Truth is, we never went to the movies when I was growing up.

The first movie I ever saw in a theater was on my first date when I was 18 or 19 years old- We went to see "I Love Trouble" with Julia Roberts and Nick Nolte. It was the longest, most horrible movie I'd ever seen and it could have tainted my view of going to the theater altogether except that my date and I got the biggest kick out of laughing about how horrible it was and how it was the longest 2 hours of our lives.

My next experience was better- "Billy Madison" with my friend and her boyfriend. That movie went over much better and after that, going to the movies became more commonplace for me. I went with friends or on dates. And then there was the time period after having my daughter that we didn't go to the movies much at all. Taking little kids to the theater just does not happen. Now that my stepson is 13 and our daughter is 9, we go a little more often, but not a lot because we have to weigh the cost of the tickets and concessions against what's in the bank and what bills need to be paid. Indoor theaters are not cheap.

BUT- this past weekend when we realized we'd have both kids (stepson stayed the weekend with us instead of going to his mom's) we tried to come up with something that we could all do together. At first, we thought about going to the zoo. Nashville's not that far, nor is Louisville, but the idea of walking all day long was a bit daunting, especially if it were hot. And then the idea of whether there were any old-fashioned drive-ins still around these parts came up.

We did some online searches and there was one in Tennessee we were looking at but then we discovered there was one open a county over from us and they only charge $15 a carload. Not too shabby and the movies playing were suitable- The Pirates: Band of Misfits and Men in Black 3, which hubby and I'd been wanting to see.

 We got there just before the gates opened around 6:30 and soon they began allowing the cars through, so we found a good spot and headed to the concessions to get supper. My stepson said their chicken poppers were great and their tator tots. Hubby, daughter and I got cheeseburgers- the good kind like you get at the fair- the kind  you just can't get anywhere else. Daughter's fries were great as were the spicy wedges hubby and I got. We ate in the car and relaxed until it got dark.

The family next to us had teenaged daughters, so they blew bubbles to pass the time. The only thing that might have been better was if we'd brought some folding chairs to sit in outside the car, but it was a cool evening, so sitting in our car worked all right, other than my daughter not being able to see while my seat was in the upright position and she overdid it eating Junior Mints and cotton candy during the movie and felt a little sick on the ride home around midnight.

At intermission, my husband went to the concession stand and got himself a couple slices of Domino's pizza and got me a warm powdered sugar plate of heavenly goodness I call a funnel cake. YU-U-U-MMY! Overall, it was a great family outing, and also a first for myself and both the kids, so it's an experience we can always say we shared together as a first and hopefully it won't be our last time. The movies were good. The Pirate movie was okay, in my opinion but I was way more interested in seeing if the MIB 3 movie would be better than it's predecessor (the 2nd one) as I loved the first one, but wasn't that impressed with the story in the 2nd one and I personally found the 3rd one to be laugh out loud funny, it was nice to see those characters again and I have to give props to Josh Brolin for his Tommy Lee Jones impersonation and it also had a very heart-warming part that made me love Agents J & K even more. I truly enjoyed it and I can't wait until we can go again!

 Please don't forget that I'm also visiting at

Teresa Reasor's My Muse's Musings

this week and would love it if you stopped by to chat or say hi!

SCENTsational Saturdays- Time Runs Wild...

Tribe....A Fragrance Uprising...

(Top notes are green notes, mandarin orange, raspberry, peach, apple, bergamot and lemon; middle notes are cyclamen, jasmine, lily-of-the-valley and rose; base notes are sandalwood, amber, musk, oakmoss and cedar.)

Today is my 37th birthday and today for SCENTsational Saturdays I'll wax poetic about one of my favorite scents of my youth, and a favorite movie from back in the day.

It's becoming more and more clear to me that most of my favorite perfumes were put out by Coty and I always lean toward those with Oriental tones. I was 16 the year Tribe was launched in 1991 and I used to run through bottles of this stuff like a marathon runner goes through water. I couldn't get enough. You see, I go nuts over fragrances the way some women do over shoes. Or purses. Or jewelry. (I'm the same about nail polish.)

This fragrance always made me feel youthful, free spirited and more extroverted than I normally was. I was a wallflower most the time, but I balanced it with my wild child nail polish colors and different boisterous perfumes. Oh, and my kooky earrings. (If you remember Calliope from Days of Our Lives, you know how kooky her earrings were and I had a whole jewelry box full.)

Tribe though, was right up there with Exclamation! and Electric Youth on the list of scents that made me feel totally different from my shy-violet self. Needless to say, Tribe is no longer on the market, but if it was- I'd rush out and buy a bottle (or two) right now.

And for a little musical entertainment- another little something from my youth. From the Dream a Little Dream soundtrack, starring Corey Feldman, Meredith Salenger, ♥Corey Haim♥, Piper Laurie, Jason Robards, and Harry Dean Stanton-

Time Runs Wild by Danny Wilde


This song, along with the Tribe scent, lift me back in time and reminds me that it does run wild and it gets away from us. I'm older, but not necessarily wiser (thought I sure hope I am! LOL)

What's the plan for the big old 3-7 today? Not much of anything. Maybe dinner out with hubby. Not even sure I want anything fancy, just a quiet day and maybe a few good hours of writing.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Does Action Speak Louder Than Words?

There's always that question lingering in the back of my mind when I see that a book is going to be made into a movie. How will it fare when the written word is translated into actions, mannerisms, behaviors? Can actors and actresses pull off the characters? Will the depth of the story be conveyed as well on the silver screen as it is between the pages? Or vice versa? Would the movie better serve the story ran the written word?

Here are a few that I have both read the book and seen the movie-

Favorites-

Dolores Claiborne

I don't remember whether I read the book first or saw the movie, but what I do know is that I feel this was handled well. The touchy subject matter of the story plays out onscreen with real raw emotion and Kathy Bates just happens to be one of those actresses who I seldom thing about, but then I watch a movie with her in it and remember all over again how wonderful she is and how well she adapts to the roles she takes on. Her portrayal of Dolores made the story believable just as easily as reading Stephen's words on the page. Either way, my heart ached for her and her daughter and for the pain that the past caused them both. My favorite line in that movie? Probably every woman's favorite line-

"Sometimes being a bitch is all a woman's got to hold on to."

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Dances with WolvesI do remember reading this book before I saw the movie. A friend loaned me a copy they had borrowed from a friend of theirs and I read it within just a few days, completely mesmerized by the western frontier, the strange bond between Dunbar and Two Socks and the Sioux, the romance with Stands with a Fist. Before I ever saw the movie, I shed tears too many to count for the struggles in the story. I love the movie just as much now as I did the first time I saw it and thought that Kevin Costner did the author proud in representing what the story was about.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Persuasion

Persuasion, I read after I saw the movie staring Amanda Root and Ciaran Hinds, but I found that they too are quite companionable. I will always love Captain Wentworth and his letter to Anne Elliot and the idea that true love really does live on, even when we are apart from the one we love the most.

"You pierce my soul. I am half agony, half hope. Tell me not that I am too late, that such precious feelings are gone for ever. I offer myself to you again with a heart even more your own than when you almost broke it, eight and a half years ago. Dare not say that a man forgets sooner than woman, that his love has an earlier death. I have loved none but you. Unjust I may have been, weak and resentful I have been, but never inconstant."

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For me- the worst offender-

Flowers in the Attic

I loved V.C. Andrews novels when I was growing up. I discovered them when I was around 13 or so and I loved the wonderful detail. She was a very talented author, who wove words in a way that put you right in that moment, right there with the characters and made you feel every joy and pain they endured. The book, by all means was more graphic in detail in these "children in jeopardy" sagas, so really, it wasn't any wonder when I accidentally came across the movie, staring pre-Buffy Kristy Swanson as Cathy. I had been devouring every V.C. Andrews novel I could get my hands on for a while and I was excited about the fact that there was a movie, but when I finally watched it, I was devastated that so much had been left out, but also that the movie was not made to be a continuing story, as the books were. I understand why so much was removed, as this story does carry a very weighted storyline, but what saddened me more was that V.C. Andrews herself had say in the production and she had a small cameo as a window washing maid of Foxworth Hall. It fell far short of my hopes for it as no other book-to-movie ever has.What's your favorite book-to-movie adaptation? Do you have a pick for YOUR worst? Have you ever seen a movie that was actually BETTER than its book? I would love to hear about it.

Happy Hump Day!

I can see the weekend from here!