Movie Weekend

Okay, so there seems to be a trend developing. About every five weeks or so, date night consists of a movie marathon (mainly because we don't want to leave the house). This weekend happened to be one of those weekends. We still managed to be a little productive, but we both needed a total veg weekend to regenerate the batteries. I got a haircut Saturday morning while Chris cleaned the garage. We went to the gym, did some laundry, then the nothingness commenced. We watched four movies Saturday: Sinister (7 out of 10 stars), Argo (7 out of 10), Open Range (7 out of 10), and Celeste and Jesse (6 out of 10). Sunday, we watched The Man With the Iron Fists (6 out of 10, but the epitome of a Quentin Tarantino film), followed by A Haunting in Connecticut 2: Georgia Ghosts (5 out of 10). They were all at least decent films. Argo wasn't overly entertaining, but still a good historical film. Celeste and Jesse was something of a surprise: we didn't like the ending, but it was entertaining, funny and charming. I consider myself a horror film snob (i.e. completely desensitized), and Sinister managed to be disturbing, scary and compelling. Open Range was a standard Western with a modern twist, and the acting was very good. Lots of wine during the marathon Saturday made Sunday morning a little fuzzy, but again, it was all much needed!

El Paso Botanical Gardens

So this week was another group date night. The Rebellos were in town, so Chris and I teamed up to surprise everyone with the date night. A last minute change of plans moved the adventure from Sunday to Saturday afternoon. We loaded everyone in the truck and headed west toward Sunland Park. The date was the El Paso Botanical Gardens. I had driven by it several times as it is near my work, but none of us were quite sure what to expect (gardens in El Paso?). Well, it turned out to be very nice. Small, but nice. Winding gravel pathways toured us through different areas of desert plants, complete with a small pond, view of wetlands (surprising), artwork, and even a greenhouse. It was very peaceful and we basically had the place to ourselves. Most everything was still in hibernation from winter, but it was very nice nonetheless. It was a quick date, only lasting about 30 minutes, but it was another new adventure to add to the books!

Valentine's Day Ball

Okay, okay. My apologies for the delay. Chris was gone to the field for several weeks, hence no updates last week. This past weekend was technically Chris' turn, but with him coming out of the field we were a little limited. Last Friday was the annual Valentine's Ball though, which was a lot of fun (as usual). It's always nice to get really dressed up and have a night out with friends. The ball was held at the Centennial Club here on post. We had a cocktail hour, followed by dinner and a really awful speech by the special guest (name is being withheld to save embarrassment). After dinner, awards, presentations, etc, the formal portion of the night concluded and the dancing began! We were the last group of people left and closed down the place :) Needless to say, Saturday included napping and Gatorade.

Saturday night we did venture out for a movie. We saw Identity Thief, which we both thought was pretty good. Sunday we watched Flight on DirecTV which we both thought was an awesome movie (hard to go wrong with Denzel).

This coming weekend is a long one for Chris, and his family is coming into town for the four day weekend. I, of course, don't get any time off from work, but it should be a good weekend nonetheless. This weekend's date night is partially mine, and partially a surprise for Chris' family. Updates to follow next week :)