Last night (this morning?), I went to the midnight premiere of Star Trek Into Darkness at our local movie theater. (Surprise! Did you know the movie opened a day early?)

Just like the first movie, I thought this one was great. I was a little skeptical going into it, since the trailer didn’t really do it justice, but it turned out to be fantastic. It was funny, sweet, action-packed, heart wrenching, gut wrenching, and suspenseful, all at the right moments. Once again, the cast delivered and played so well off each other, I couldn’t imagine anyone else in those roles. (Oh, who am I kidding? I think everything Zachary Quinto does is great.) To be honest, there were a couple of short scenes in the movie that felt a little out of place (thrown in after the market research stage, perhaps?), but otherwise, I have no complaints.

Overall, I thought the movie was a lot of fun and I’d highly recommend it.

I bought a new car. My last car was a clunker that I bought for $1200 from some guy on Craigslist, and my car before that was an old hand-me-down. I’m so excited to finally have a nice, new car that I can actually rely on! The only bad part about it is the car payments, but it’s worth it to not have to worry about breaking down on the side of the road every time I go to work.

Photo source: Jen on Flickr

We saw Louis C.K. perform. Dan and I are huge fans of his work, including all his stand up and TV shows, so we were psyched to find out that he was coming to our area. Of course, all our friends got tickets, too, so we were able to meet up with everyone before the show for dinner and drinks. The show was hysterical, and had me in tears almost the entire time. Definitely one of his best routines yet.

We met Joe Capobianco. Fans of Best Ink will recognize Joe as one of the judges, and he’s a highly respected name in the tattoo industry. The night of Best Ink’s second season premiere, Dan and I went to a party at Joe’s shop in Connecticut and got to meet him. I didn’t want to harass the guy for a picture, but you can catch him on TV every Wednesday night at 10 pm.

We watched G.I. Joe: Retaliation and played mini-golf for Dan’s birthday. The movie was campy, but still an enjoyable action flick, and Dan won our game of mini-golf. Of course.

I went to the city to see my brother for his birthday. Every year that he gets older, I feel older by comparison. I took the train into the city for the day, met up with my brother and his friends, and, after lunch at Little Poland, we went thrifting at all the vintage shops in both the East and West Village. I always enjoy seeing him, and was glad to finally meet the friends I hear so much about.

So that’s been my life lately. What have you been up to?

My back starts to hurt if I sleep in too late.

I’ve got piles of paperwork on my desk that need to be sorted, scanned, trashed, filed, or dealt with, and I’ve been too busy these last couple of weeks to do anything about it.

There are several blog posts I want to write, but I haven’t had the time or energy to write them.

We need to re-evaluate our financial situation, now that I’ve taken on a car loan and our insurance has gone up, but that involves doing math, something I just don’t feel like doing today.

We have big plans for our house, but neither the time nor the money to do them. Baby steps…

We have dirty dishes in our sink, and our bathroom needs to be cleaned. That’s what’s on my agenda for today.

But first, our regular Sunday trip to Buffalo Wild Wings for lunch. At least I have that to look forward to.

Can’t I just spend the day on the couch, catching up on my TV shows and video games?

Dear Mother Nature,

What the heck? It’s April; I shouldn’t be waking up to find fresh snow on the ground. This may have been acceptable yesterday, but I don’t appreciate your celebrating April Fools’ Day a day late.

Can you please bring on the warmer weather now?

Thanks,

Mayde

Every year, for the last few years, Dan and I have gone down to New Orleans to spend time with my parents. This year, he couldn’t take the time off work, so I invited my friend Justice to go with me. She’d never been to New Orleans before, so we had a blast exploring the city, visiting all the tourist spots, and dining on local cuisine. Above are photos from our trip.

On the train to NYC: Listening to headphones; ready to go; a kiss to start the day

Last weekend, we took the train into the city to see the Harry Potter Exhibition in Times Square. I’m a huge Harry Potter fan, and my mother-in-law just finished reading all of the books, so as a belated birthday gift, Dan and I treated her to a day in New York City.

Before going to the exhibition, we met up with my brother who lives in the city and had lunch at Ruby Tuesday.

In NYC: Lunch date with my brother; iconic Times Square; my mother-in-law at the exhibition

The exhibition itself was awesome! After watching all eight Harry Potter films more times than I can count, it was fun to see all the props and replicas up close and in person. They don’t allow any photography in the exhibition, but we did get a souvenir photo (below). The gift shop was probably the best part of the experience. Dan, his mom, and I all picked out wands, and I went home with a Ravenclaw t-shirt. (Why yes, I do consider myself witty and wise!)

Before getting back on the train, we stopped by the Times Square Toys “R” Us (one of our favorite stores in Manhattan, despite the crowds) and the new LEGO store in Rockefeller Center. We were hugely disappointed by the latter, and actually found a better selection of legos at Toys “R” Us. Dan picked up a lego set for a friend, and then we started our journey home.

Our trip went well and we were back home, warming up in front of our wood stove, by 8:30 that night. The city is fun, but it’s always nice to be back.

Despite the fresh snow on the ground, today is the first day this year that it’s been warm enough to leave the balcony door open for any extended amount of time. The dogs are obviously loving it, and I’m glad for the fresh air.

10 days until spring! 

My purse is the Relic Shopper Handbag. (For some reason, the black version isn’t showing up anywhere on the Internet, but I bought mine at Kohl’s.) For awhile, I was carrying a black Tignanello Pebble purse, but it was just a bit too small, especially during the winter months when I need to carry around a pair of gloves and a hat.

Above my purse in my phone, an HTC Incredible 2 running Android v. 2.3.4. I absolutely love this phone, and am not sure if I’m going to upgrade when I’m eligible for a new phone in May.

To the right of my purse is my brand new iPad Mini, a.k.a. my new best friend. I also got the Targus Slim Stylus, which I’ve been enjoying very much. I plan to write an entire post about the iPad soon, so keep an eye out for that.

My wallet/wristlet originally came with my old Tignanello purse, but it matches my new Relic handbag perfectly. Inside, I keep cash, change, and a business card case which contains all of my loyalty cards, credit cards, gift cards, insurance cards, and ID cards.

Since I rely so heavily on my phone and tablet, I bring my chargers with me wherever I go. And, since our weather’s been so terrible lately, I’ve also started carrying my hat, gloves, and an umbrella in my purse at all times.

On my key ring, I carry a Severus Snape LEGO man and a Kingston DTSE9 16gb flash drive.

I always have a bunch of little odds and ends in my purse, including two hair brushes, eye drops (for when my contacts get dry), Advil, gum (though I rarely chew it), dental floss, deodorant, a mirror, multi-vitamins (which I always forget to take), a microfiber cloth, tissues, coffee-flavored Werther’s, a couple of pens, hair ties, and chapstick.

I also carry several of my own business cards and some of Dan’s (bottom left), as well as a small plastic pouch for coupons (bottom right). I can’t find the coupon case on Staples’ website, but I picked it up in their dollar bin during the back-to-school shopping season last summer.

Now, just for fun, here’s a photo of Murda, who kept trying to lay on the sheet I was using as a backdrop.

See how guilty she looks? Poor girl just wants to be involved in whatever I’m doing at any given time.