The Holy City: Magnolia Plantation

Another attraction I have never visited while living in the Charleston area is one of the many plantations in the area. We found a Groupon for Magnolia Plantation and decided to check it out. I did not realize that several of the plantations were close to my in-law's house. Convenient!

When we first arrived, we encountered a peacock in the parking lot. They are such beautiful creatures! Later, while walking around the gardens, we came across his counterpart--a pea hen. We recently learned that is the name for a female. We have been watching 72 Cutest Animals on Netflix. Together they are called pea fowl.

The garden was lovely. They are lots of paths to walk down and wonderful views overlooking the water.

We saw sooooo many of these guys throughout the gardens. Must be a nice place to live!

These flowers reminded me of the flowers in Alice in Wonderland. One of my favorite movies!

We did not tour the house on this visit, but the lower level consists of the gift shop. It was a lot larger than I expected and filled with lots of neat items.

The bamboo garden. It was neat to walk among such large bamboo plants.

Cypress "knees"

Movie Review: The Grand Budapest Hotel

I have not shared my opinions on any movies I have watched lately. We still do the Netflix disc in the mail and have watched several movies lately. We also sometimes stream movies on Netflix, but we mostly stream TV shows. 

The last disc we received from Netflix was The Grand Budapest Hotel. I thoroughly enjoyed the movie. It was definitely quirky and a little strange, so it is not for everyone. It reminded me a little of Pushing Daisies, one of my all-time favorite TV shows. People didn't really get that one either which is why it only lasted 2 seasons.

One of the things I liked about the movie (and Pushing Daisies, for that matter) was the intentional style of the set. The set was quirky to fit the movie, but was interesting to watch.

The characters were weird, but fascinating. They had a story to tell and it made you want to learn more about them. One of the characters had a distinctive birth mark on her face. I like details like that in movies. I appreciate when writers notice small, seemingly insignificant, features in a person.

Austenland: Review

A while ago, I saw a preview for the movie Austenland. I love Jane Austen books, especially Pride and Prejudice. When I realized it was a book, I decided to read the book and wait for the movie to come on Netflix. The book made for light and quick reading, but it was a cute story. It is such a short book that you could read it in a day or two.

Last week the movie came in the mail from Netflix and we finally got around to watching it on Saturday evening. From the very beginning I knew I wasn't going to like it. As with most movies based on books, they deviated quite a bit from the book.

The other thing about the movie that I did not like was they made it too cheesy and ridiculous. Some of the characters were just annoying in the movie. I do not remember them being that way in the book. Only one character from the book and movie were pretty dead on.

In summary, I suggest reading the book and skipping the movie.

Review: The Pacific

Our most recent Netflix viewing was The Pacific, a miniseries from HBO. We enjoyed Band of Brothers and this was a similar series. My favorite period of history to learn about is WWII era. Life seemed some black and white. Of course, life is never truly black and white.

The Pacific was good, but not as good as Band of Brothers. I found it a little difficult to get into the characters at first. They all look the same in uniform.

Charles made a good observation last night as we watched the last part. This series was much more psychological. It showed you more the emotional effects of war on the individuals. That is the hard thing to see about war--PTSD, disease, etc. Some parts were so heartbreaking.

If you enjoy WWII era and haven't seen The Pacific, I recommend it.

Blessings Monday

I haven't done one of these in a while. Mondays always seem so busy. I get to work and have to catch up on all the things I left on Friday and all the emails. And then when I come home or lunch or after work, I'm wiped out. I'll be ready for summer to be over so things can chill off for a while.

This Monday, I am thankful for Netflix. Whoever invented Netflix is amazing and a genius! I love not having to drive to Blockbuster and look through all the movies you don't want to see to find the one you're looking for. Netflix also offers a ton of options that are totally random. Most of those choices have been really bad or boring movies, but I like having the opportunity to watch something different. Every once in a while, you find a movie that is really good.

Plus, it's so awesome that we can watch our Online Queue through our PS3! Netflix has really solved my boredom issues. And since we don't have cable, it has allowed me to watch what I want without having to sit through commercials or scan hundreds of channels to find it.

Behind the times

My week without Charles has been pretty boring. He's having fun on vacation and we've been able to talk a couple of times which was more than I thought we would. Technology is great!

Since he's been gone, I reinstated our Instant Streaming portion of Netflix. We got rid of that part when they changed the pricing and before I had a job. But I figured it would keep me entertained while he was away.

So far, I've watched the last season of Army Wives. I got hooked on that show last year while he was at Tech School all thanks to Netflix. It's a great show and comes close to capturing what military life is like, although some of the story lines are a bit far fetched. It was a good season.

Now I'm on to Mad Men. I'm a little behind the times with watching this show. I don't know when it first came out, but it has always been on the back of my mind to watch. My sister likes the show. I have to say that I'm disgusted with the majority of the characters, but I find myself engrossed in the show, nonetheless. Each episode brings something even more awful, but you are also shown small glimpses of why the characters are so awful. Plus, I love all the clothes and the style from that era. I wish I could travel back in time, stock up on a bunch of gorgeous dresses and return home to enjoy them all. And it's interesting to see a little how advertising worked back then. It makes me wonder how accurate some of the dialogue and scenes are. Where women really treated that horribly? Did women really let men treat them like that? I think some women still let men treat them like that, but I hope, as a whole, we're better than that now.

Movie Review

I've thought for months now that I should dedicate a post every once in a while to review my latest disc in my Netflix queue. To date, have I done that? No. Today, I am going to do just that!

Last night, Charles and I finally watched the disc that has been sitting around for a couple of days. Usually we're very on top of our Netflix watching because we have a very long queue. Last night's film was Everyone's Fine. Netflix thought we would give it 2.7 stars. I thought it was very good. I have to consult with Charles, but I would give it 4 stars (a movie has to be spectacular in every way to get a full 5 stars).

Basically it is about a man whose wife had passed away and she was the one who kept in touch with their 4 kids who were all grown up. He was preparing for them all to come visit, but at the last minute they each cancelled. He decided if they couldn't come visit him, he would surprise each of them with a visit. His first stop was NY to visit his son, the artist. However, his son was not home when he was there. Then we went to Chicago to visit his daughter, followed by Denver and Las Vegas. All the while, you can tell the kids are keeping a secret from him regarding what is really going on in their lives and what was going on with the first son.

The movie made me cry several times, which in my mind makes it a good movie. The ending was very sad, but the dad was able to become closer to his kids.

One scene that made me cry was after the dad had a bad experience with a homeless guy, he called his house so he could hear his late wife's voice on the answering machine. That's what helped him feel better.

I definitely recommend this movie if you want to watch a movie that will make you cry and appreciate your Dad.