Our Date Night

I can't believe this year is almost over.  It's been quite a year of ups and downs.  Today, we are remembering what could have been if things turned out differently earlier this year.  Last night, we needed a date night, since Steve works tonight.  He said that we could go anywhere that I wanted to.  I wanted to try Cheddars.  We hadn't been there yet and I had heard pretty good reviews of it.

The biscuits that came with the salad were absolutely delicious.  Steve got the Braised Beef with mashed potatoes.  The mashed potatoes were heavenly.  The beef was good too.  I wanted to get the Chicken Pot Pie, but they were all out so I got a sandwich...very tasty.

Our food came out really fast, but our server was a little slow with our drinks.  They were pretty busy though.  She was really friendly.

After dinner, we went to the dollar theater to see Hope Springs.  It's a movie about a couple that has been married for 32 years and they go on a week long marriage enrichment trip.  It was actually pretty funny.  It's not a movie to bring kids too.  It's rated PG 13 for a reason, but it's tastefully done.  Marriage was portrayed in a positive light as something worth fighting for and not something you just throw away.  I liked that since so many movies nowadays try and portray marriage as something negative that should be avoided.  It was an honest movie with some humor thrown in.

Thursday Date Night: Rio

I love Thursdays from Red  Box.  Every week, I get a code texted to my phone for a free movie.  Last night for dinner, I made a Cheesy Chicken and noodle casserole with green/red peppers and mushrooms.  It turned out great.  Very cheesy! 

Then we went over to our local Red Box and picked out a movie.  Steve wanted to see Rio.  It's a movie about a bird that gets bird-napped by an exotic pet shop and ends up lost in a small town in Minnesota when he fell off the truck.  He is found by a little girl who raises him as her pet.  She names him Blu.  He is a very spoiled, happy bird until a scientist comes to find him and says he is the last of his species.  The scientist has found a female blue Macaw and they only way for their species to survive is for them mate and have baby birdies.

After much prodding, the girl, who is know an adult, decides to bring her bird to Rio de Janero, Brazil with scientist.  The scientist runs a bird refuge that finds injured birds in the wild or rescues them from smugglers.  They arrive in Brazil just in time for the annual Carnival festival.  Blu and the female Macaw, Jewel, are again bird-napped by some local smugglers.  Blu must learn to trust his new friends and learn to survive out in the unknown wild.  It's a really cute movie about a bird who never learned to fly, who has lived as a pet his whole life, and never really had any bird friends. 

In all the adventures, Blu must gain the courage to learn to fly, develop friendships, and learn the value of family.  I thought it was a good story about perseverance, believing in yourself, and getting outside your comfort zone.
Definitely Pitney Approved.  Rated: G

Megamind Movie Night

After dinner, Steve and I were sitting on the couch trying to what we were going to do for the rest of the evening.  First, we had our Budget Committee Meeting so we could finalize our March numbers and create the April budget.  Then I remembered that our bank started this rewards program and I had a coupon on our debit card for 10% cash back on a redbox movie, so it would be like paying only 90 cents for a movie.  Woohoo.  We decided on Megamind because there really wasn't much else to choose from that we really wanted to see.  Steve went to go pick it up and I made some popcorn.  I really like the rebox program because instead of a movie costing us $8 a person for the ticket, plus another $10 for popcorn and drink, movie night only costs a few dollars.
Megamind was a pretty fun movie and it had a good life lesson in it.  "When there is evil, there will always be good to stand up to it."