Two Enthusiastic Thumbs Up

Maybe we haven't mentioned this, but we really like living here. The little things* are so much easier.

Like seeing a movie

When we lived in Waldorf, our choices were a giant mega-movieplex in Alexandria or the local theater. Now, the mega-movieplex was supernice, don't misunderstand me. Brand new, stadium seating, ticket purchasing kiosks so you never have to talk to a person ... the trouble was getting to that point. First, to get to the theater, you had to cross a bridge. Not just any bridge, the Wilson Bridge. Looks nice, right? Yeah, well, it doesn't exist yet. It's been under construction for the last decade or so. But sometimes we were able to successfully navigate lane closures, accidents, and random traffic backups to make it to the Great(ish) state of Virginia. Challenge #2 is parking. The mega-movieplex had the most oddly shaped parking lot with spaces about the width of a SmartCar. I couldn't even squeeze my Civic into those spots. Especially with all of the suburban, um, Suburbans taking up 3-4 spaces each. But let's pretend that we made it across the bridge and were able to find and successfully maneuver ourselves into a parking spot. The chances of getting a ticket were about 2 in 5 in our experience. Weekend evening and matinees of any movie less than 5 weeks old were always sold out.

"But Ashley," you are probably asking, "why not just go to the Waldorf theater and avoid all of that Virginia nonsense?" Ahh, the St. Charles Towne Centre Theatre. Home of the pretentious and unnecessary e. They mostly showed second run movies. Which is fine, since I don't need to see movies the second they come out. (It's still the same movie, whether you wait in line at midnight or see it on a Sunday three weeks later.) Unfortunately, they only had about six screens so the movies they got were the super blockbusters. Nothing even a little bit smaller, ever. All slapstick comedy and big budget FX spectaculars, all the time. Also? There was NEVER soap in the bathrooms. In a place that small, you know the heavily eyelinered teen scooping your popcorn with her hands does not have a super-special staff bathroom with extra amenities like, say, soap.

So, anyway.

In the last five months, Damian and I have seen at least as many movies as we saw in five years in Maryland. Which is awesome, since I lovelovelove going to the movies.

Tonight, after a sparkling wine tasting (amazing--six sparkling wines, all very different, all very good), we went to see Juno. D and I cannot recommend this movie highly enough. It was funny and sad and sweet and all-around excellent. We laughed and cried. (At least, I cried. Damian has never cried in his life. I swear.) The writing was great and the actors all did a fantastic job. If you haven't seen this movie, stop reading this stupid blog and go! Gogogo!

*Sure, the big things are turning into a disaster, but, hell, we can see MOVIES, people!