Something Borrowed

This was a really cute movie.  It is not your typical chick flick.  This movie is about two best friends and how one of them is in love with the other ones fiance.  Throughout the movie you see flashbacks about how everything came about.  I thought the movie was entertaining and worth seeing.  I am pretty sure that your husband/boyfriend won't like this movie so don't take him to see it.  Go with a girlfriend.  On a fun note, if you do go see the movie look at the book the girl is reading when Rachel and Marcus are sitting in the park! :)  I will say that after watching the movie I do want to read the book.

The Patterson Garden

For those of you that don't know, gardening is something I truly enjoy.  I was super excited about planting vegetables this year.  Last year our garden was fairly small (3 tomato plants and 2 pepper plants).  This year, Tim requested that we have more peppers and do a salsa garden.  I planted three different types of tomatoes:  Big Beefy, Golden Boy, and Mr. Stripy.  Big Beefy is variety that produces a large, beefy tomato.  Golden Boy is a yellow tomato plant.  Yellow tomatoes are my favorite because they are less acidic than red tomatoes.  Mr. Stripy is a yellow/red tomato and produces a very meaty and juicy tomato.  For peppers, we planted 2 jalapenos, 1 hot banana, 2 cayennes, 3 habaneros, and 3 sweet bananas.  We also planted cilantro.  When we first planted the peppers we noticed that something was eating the leaves.  I had sprayed everything with Seven (which is a fruit and veggie spray) but whatever was eating my plants was not affected by this spray.  After doing some research, I realized that we had a slug and snail problem.  I tried some natural remedies: citrus peels and beer but finally I broke down and got some snail bait.  This worked wonders for our peppers and the leaves are finally starting to come back.  As for our cilantro, we totally killed it.  I had never grown an herb before but apparently cilantro does not take full sun.  When your cilantro plant starts growing straight up and blooms flowers, this is not a good sign.  I have since learned that cilantro only takes morning or afternoon sun.

Here are some things that I have learned from gardening this year:
1.  The potting soil you use really does matter.  Don't buy the stuff from Lowe's or Home Depot.  Go to an actual greenhouse/garden center and pay the extra money to get the good stuff.  If your potting soil looks like mulch then it sucks.
2.  Never pot anything in a clay pot (not even flowers).  Clay pots suck all the water from the plant/the soil and you have to water your flowers daily or more.
3.  Herbs are good to grow in window sills rather than outside.  If your cilantro sprouts flowers--this is a bad sign and your plant is dead.

Below are some pictures of our garden.  It is about a month and a half old and I have only fertilized it once.

The Garden

 The Pepper Plants

 The Tomato Plants

 Tomatoes on the Vine

Gerbera Daisies & Habaneros 

 Sweet Banana Peppers

 Dead Cilantro

P.F. Chang's at Home

The other day while I was at the grocery store I picked up one of those P.F. Chang's frozen dinner bags.  Tim and I were looking for something quick and easy to eat that night but we didn't want to go out so we decided to try one.  We got the sweet and sour chicken bag.  I also picked up two of the Uncle Ben's Ready Rice (brown rice not white).  The meal took all of 20 minutes to make and it was great.  The P.F. Chang's bag tasted just like we were at the restaurant.  The chicken was fresh and and the sweet and sour sauce cooked up wonderfully.  Also, the rice was very good as well.  I was worried about getting the quick microwave rice but it tasted just like I had cooked it on the stove.  Overall, it was a quick and great tasting dinner.  Another great thing about this meal was that we both were stuffed and it only cost us $12.  If you ever want a great tasting and quick meal definitely try one of the P.F. Chang's frozen bags!  You won't be disappointed.

The Hangover Part 2

Really, really funny!  I was pleasantly surprised by this sequel.  This movie was really funny and was a lot better than I thought it was going to be.  I will admit that it was not as great as the first one but for a sequel they did a great job.  There were a lot of parts where I was literally laughing out loud.  This movie has a ton of great quotes and the cast did a great job.  This one is definitely worth seeing in the theater and we will most likely buy it when it comes out on video.  Also, if you do see this movie in the theater, make sure you get there early to see the previews.  There were a ton of previews for movies coming out this summer that were hilarious!

The Way Back

This movie is slow.  This movie follows several men who are in a Siberian prison and plan to escape.  It takes place in 1940 during Stalin's reign.  The men escape and you follow their journey as they they try to reach friendly territory.  The movie is pretty sad and depressing.  You pretty much watch these men struggle to survive for 2 hours and 13 minutes.  I really only kept watching because I wanted to see if they would make it and they did (sorry for spoiling it).  They end up walking 4,000 miles to India.  The main stars of this movie are Ed Harris and Colin Farrell which is why I thought this movie would be good.   I suggest you skip this movie and only watch it if you really, really, really have nothing else to watch.  It is a big downer and pretty slow.      

No Strings Attached

This was a very funny movie.  It is your typical chick flick but has humor that even guys will enjoy.  I saw this movie in the theater when it came out but Tim hadn't seen it.  He thought there were a lot of funny parts.  This movie stars Ashton Kutcher and Natalie Portman and is about a couple that tries to just be friends with benefits without falling in love.  Of course this scenario never works and they do end up falling in love but the journey they take to get to that point is pretty funny and interesting to watch.  This movie does have some pretty surprising and quirky moments.  I will warn that there is a lot of sex/sexual references in this movie so I don't recommend watching it with your parents.  Overall, this is a funny movie and definitely worth renting.    

127 Hours

This movie is based on a true story and is about a guy named Aron Ralston.  In 2003, Ralston set out for a weekend trip to Utah and didn't tell anyone where he was going.  While hiking through a canyon a rock falls and traps his arm.  He is trapped in this canyon for 127 hours (hence the name of the movie) until he cuts his arm off.  This movie was pretty good.  I had already seen and heard about this guy before (on Oprah) so I knew what to expect throughout the whole movie.  This guys lifestyle was somewhat crazy in the fact that he went out and did all these dangerous activities alone.  I think this movie is a good example to everyone that crazy things can happen at anytime and that we should always tell the people around us how much we love and care for them.  This movie is definitely a renter and worth watching.